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Every year, the Idaho State Board of Education asks for budget proposals from the colleges and universities of this state. Every year, representatives of these schools go through a process to determine what would be best for their institutions. These proposals generally come in the form of tuition and fee increase requests.
The proposals are taken before the board where they then hit deaf ears.
It isn’t just UI that can’t seem to get anything done when it comes to convincing the board that these increases have been carefully thought out and are not designed simply to put more money into the pockets of university leaders.
UI representatives including ASUI President Jon Gaffney and Vice President of Finance and Administration Lloyd Mues did their best in asking for a 7.94 percent increase in fees and tuition, which would go into the activities and matriculation budget.
And like last year, when a 5.9 percent increase was asked for, a 5 percent increase was granted.
This isn’t money that will be taken from another school or from the overall state budget. This is money that current students and administration have determined is a relative cost increase needed in order to better serve the student body.
The appearance is that the SBOE has arbitrarily chosen a number for every school. Boise State requested a 6.1 percent increase and received a 5 percent increase. Eastern Idaho Technical College asked for 3.1 percent and received 2 percent. Lewis-Clark State College requested 5 percent and that’s what it was given.
The lone exception was Idaho State. ISU asked for a 7 percent increase, which was dropped to 6 percent. ISU is now the most expensive school in the state.
Is the SBOE asleep at the wheel? Or at the table where all their decisions are made?
UI remains a good deal as far as the price of education goes and the proposed fee increases would not have changed that. Paying a little more to get a better education at a reasonable price is something many students and members of the faculty and administration agree on.
While on the surface it seems noble that the SBOE wants to keep Idaho schools inexpensive and affordable, it is instead causing UI to simply become cheap.
If they could stay awake for an entire session, perhaps they would realize it.
— TJT
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