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Get less for your
money;
Increased student fees may help university deal with budget crisis,
but students will be paying more to get less
Not long after the United States and the University of Idaho
enjoyed some of their most prosperous times, suddenly it seems
like the Great Depression all over again.
UI faces a $29 million budgetary crisis during the next three
years. As UI President Bob Hoover outlined in a university-wide
meeting Nov. 28, $15 million will come from higher student fees
and the remaining will come from a reduction in personnel and
operating budgets.
So for students at UI, less means more. Or at least less costs
more.
The State Board of Education has given Idaho universities the
green light to increase student fees up to 12 percent. The University
of Idaho is planning on implementing the full 12 percent increase
in student fees next year and a 10 percent increase the following
year.
Students attending institutions of higher education in Idaho
have a huge advantage over the rest of the country's college
students, who pay thousands more in tuition and fees each year.
For example at neighboring Washington State University, in-state
residents pay $1,949 each semester to UI's $ 1,360. Even with
the 12 percent increase, UI's student fees will remain far below
what those in Pullman will pay.
The increases are bearable. But students will be getting less
for their money.
Students will pay more for the chance to sit in fuller classrooms
with less individual attention from the faculty. That will be
inevitable as the student-teacher ratio increases.
More classes may be fashioned after Polya, which all but abandons
traditional classroom learning for most students.
The quality of teachers may be jeopardized as salaries may be
cut and as faculty members will be required to teacher more and
bigger classes.
Student programs will suffer significantly when they are under-funded.
The situation could be worse. It very well may be worse for other
universities who are not looking ahead like the University of
Idaho is under the direction of President Hoover.
We hope the actions of our administration will produce a better
university in the long run. But for the present, the cuts and
the accompanying fee increases are going to hurt.
D.J.B. and J.J.
university of idaho argonaut
editor in chief david browning
301 student union. moscow, id 83844
ph# 885.7845 argonaut
or e-custodian bob
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