More Financial Aid Makes College
More Expensive
by


This first appeared in the
North Hills News Record

Two years ago, in an effort to further endear himself to the middleclass, President Clinton claimed, "We must open the doors of college to all Americans." He went on to propose various tax deductions for tuition and education IRA's to help reduce the spiraling costs of a higher education.

Lots of people cheered the idea. I didn't, even though I have a vested interest in making sure as many people as possible pursue a college degree.

I know that no matter how good it sounds, student aid, whether it comes in the form of a tax deduction, subsidized student loan or direct aid, doesn't make a college degree more affordable. It makes it more expensive.

To understand why, you have to know how the system works. Financial aid is granted according to how much a student's tuition and fees exceed his or her "expected family contribution." To qualify, a family's income, assets, number of children, etc. are taken into consideration. Colleges and universities couldn't ask for a more perfect set-up.

When tuition increases, more students qualify for aid. As more students qualify for aid, people demand more federal money, which allows colleges to hike tuition, which means more students qualify for aid...well you get the picture.

If student aid truly made a college degree more affordable, then you should be able to buy a college education at Wal-Mart prices. Instead, tuition prices have been increasing twice as fast as the rate of inflation.

The University of Pittsburgh recently announced that students can expect a tuition increase of 4 percent next fall even if Pennsylvania's General Assembly approves all the state funding requested by institution officials. Last year, Pitt raised its tuition 4.5 percent.

Penn State will begin the next school year by jacking up its basic tuition 3.7 percent for freshmen and sophomores. Upperclassmen may get stuck with a 5.4 percent increase.

Carnegie Mellon will be raising undergraduate tuition, and room and board by about 3.9 percent next fall even with a $25 million bequest from philanthropist Paul Mellon, who died earlier this year.

Duquesne is adding 5.5 percent to the tuition bill. La Roche will increase tuition $300 per semester for the next school year. Room and board is expected to increase as well.

State owned universities will add 4.3 percent to their tuition bill and although the Butler County Community College is holding the line on tuition this year, last year the bill was hiked 5.5 percent.

When college and university administrators are asked to justify these price increases, they invariably point to their own rising costs.

Updating computer equipment and library facilities are legitimate expenses, but federal largess also gives higher education the means to give the basketball coach an exorbitant raise, hire an assistant to the assistant human resources manager or teach a course like Brown University's "Disney, Uncle Walt, and the FBI."

Despite such reckless spending, the PR department of the higher education industry has done a pretty darn good job of convincing everyone that without some type of financial jury-rigging, only the rich will be able to afford a college degree.

But whether they admit it or not, colleges and universities sell education. They actively compete with one another for students. If students can't afford their product, and the government refuses to subsidize them, schools will have to lower their price.

I support higher education, but I also know that throwing more money into the system may win votes, but it also makes a college degree more expensive. The facts prove me right.

© Copyright Deborah A. Ayers 1999. All rights reserved.