Another semester has come and gone and left us in its wake. Next fall marks the beginning of my final year as an undergrad and I can’t help but think: I’m getting out just in time.
Perhaps this is just my cynical side rearing its ugly head or maybe my feelings do indeed have some validation in fact. In the three years that I have attended this school, I have noticed many changes taking place — decisions made behind closed doors that affect us all as both faculty and students — positively and negatively.
Cost of tuition is continually on the rise not only here in Arizona but nationwide. There are entire programs, classes, research departments and faculty being “downsized” or removed altogether from the fiscal budgets of universities and it seems the end is nowhere in sight.
How can all of this be taking place while the annual salaries of the people appointed to run these schools are growing year after year? Could one reasonably assume that higher education and the price of attending college in this country is next big “bubble” just waiting to pop?
In an article by Ellen Gibson titled “Highest-Paid Presidents of Public Universities” published in 2008 by Bloomberg Businessweek the writer establishes that “the median income for public-university presidents in the 2007-08 academic year was $427,400.” Our very own Michael Crow earned a reported $728,750 in 2008 with an incentive package that includes an annual $10,000 car allowance and a $50,000 a year house allowance.
Am I alone in my impression that ASU and other colleges are being run more like businesses than institutions of education? They are attempting to balance their budgets on the backs of those who are in the lowest financial bracket.
ASU faculty have already been forced into mandatory furlough days in the past and now other positions (like all of the custodial workers who were laid off last week) are being outsourced and contracted to private companies.
As you’ll note when logging on to myASU, there is now a feature that allows students to calculate their cost of tuition for the 2011-2012 year.
Without taking John D. Student’s individual FAFSA/scholarship/financial aid/living expenses into account, the cost for a resident of Arizona is $8,740. Alright, that’s manageable. Now look at the cost of tuition for out-of-state students such as myself: $22,319 for both semesters. I recently applied for residency for tuition purposes and was denied.
Sparing all of the gory details as they call for a column of their own, the process involved with applying for residency is a series of hoops, leaps and bounds that the applicant must go through.
It is a multitude of documentation that in the end really means nothing because the policies that have been put into place literally require the applicant to earn at least $20,000 a year on their own. What full-time student has the time to earn that much money?
I moan and gripe, however, when it comes down to it, I understand that running a school must be a pretty tough racket and I’d like to believe that President Crow and his cohorts do indeed have the school’s best intentions at heart when making such monumental decisions like these. I’m left wondering if we’re better off now than we were in August, but I’m out of words and we’re out of time. See you in the fall ASU.
Catch Ben’s rants all summer at NextGenJournal.com and by reading ONE Rollerblading Magazine. Reach him at bkarris@asu.edu
