ASU draws in excellent freshmen by offering a college education with a cheap price tag. That’s undisputed, unlike the University’s status as a top party school.

Even with tuition rates set to rise by 5 percent next fall for continuing students, the additional financial burdens ASU will place on its student body are minor compared to the nation-wide rising costs of college.

On Wednesday, The New York Times published an article on the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education’s prediction that, in 25 years, the rising costs of college will be outside the price range of most American families. While low-income families have always needed the help of financial aid to afford college, the middle class is already beginning to be out-priced as well.

Right now, according to the center’s report, net costs of attending a four-year public university takes up 28 percent of the average American’s median income. For a four-year private university, the average income would suffer a 76 percent loss. Additionally, student borrowing to pay for college has doubled in the past decade.

How expensive college is directly relates to the future power of America’s workforce. With India and China beginning to produce more college graduates than the United States, American students need affordable higher education. The more American college graduates there are, the more productive America’s future workforce will be.

The quality of America’s education right now will determine the quality of America’s future output and future economic stability more than any monetary policies will.

Isn’t it ironic that American politicians see the old automotive giants as “too big to fail” and consider rewarding them with a gigantic bailout of taxpayer dollars, yet somehow, the forward-thinking American education system isn’t also seen as “too big to fail?”

Ultimately, ASU's problem is the lack of state funds put toward public universities. Lack of educational funding to public universities and a cut of an estimated $60.3 million from the University’s budget is why the University has to raise tuition for next year, as well as cut about 150 associate faculty positions. After all, the University’s highest revenue source is tuition.

“When the economy is good, and state universities are somewhat better funded, we raise tuition as little as possible,” said Patrick M. Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education in The New York Times’ article. “When the economy is bad, we raise tuition and sock it to families, when people can least afford it. That’s exactly the opposite of what we need.”

Unfortunately, making college education less affordable in bad economic times is exactly what ASU has had to do. The rising rate of tuition, however, is minimal compared to the rising rate of room and board at ASU next year. The additional pressure from administration to have freshmen living on campus will put an extra financial burden on families that are looking to send their high school graduates to college.

Higher education produces students, who are innovative, knowledgeable and good at problem solving, which represents the very types of people that could have saved companies like General Motors from becoming a struggling company.

That is why we need the powers that be to realize ASU, like other higher education institutions around the country, are too big to fail.

Melissa can be reached by e-mail at melissa.silva@asu.edu.