College tuition is already at a point where it’s surpassing any other point in history. With fees increasing every year, people are having a hard time paying for school.
Students who attend public universities outside of their home state are in a terrible situation since they are paying almost double, and in some cases, triple the amount that in-state students pay to attend the same university.
Being an out-of-state student here at Virginia Tech, I can attest to the fact that it is really tough to pay $30,000 a year in order to attend this great university.
Since coming to Tech was not my sole decision to make, as I was not going to be the one footing the bill, it was really hard to convince my parents to let me come here.
However, since it is a better university for engineering than the best engineering school in my home state of Maryland, the only reason that my parents could come up with for not letting me attend Tech was the financial part of the deal.
I would have paid $20,000 less a year in order to attend the University of Maryland, which is five minutes away from my house.
Recently, Tech has decided to raise the tuition for out-of-state students even more in order to compensate for the lack of funds to the university. There are not that many out-of-state students here at Tech to begin with, and increasing the tuition is not going to help this number increase.
I know that my parents would not be happy to be paying even more money for me to attend Tech when in-state students are paying less than half of what out-of-state students are paying.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the increase in tuition, but it doesn’t make sense that they would increase tuition for out-of-state students and not increase for in-state students. If they want to increase tuition, it should be for everyone and not just a small portion.
The only reason I was allowed to attend Tech was because it was the best situation for me, but if I have to pay more money for the coming years, I don’t think my parents would have made the same decision.
With families like mine that are already having a hard time paying the tuition, taking out loans and getting money from wherever we can, it could affect future numbers of prospective students.
Tech is spending so much money on random projects that are not required in order for the campus to run efficiently, such as another dining hall, expanding McComas Hall and building new parking garages around campus.
They could be using the funds for the areas where change is needed, instead of using them on the unnecessary items listed above. Raising tuition is going to help them for the moment.
Over time, however, as the number of out-of-state students decrease because of the higher tuition rates, it is just going to hurt the university’s funds, as it is going to lose more students who don’t want to pay the extra fees.
Instead of providing a temporary fix today, the university needs to find alternative solutions that will be sustainable long into the future.
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 15 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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You made a dumb decision coming to Tech. Your failure to consider the cost will be with you for decades as you pay off that student loan. Enjoy.
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You don't pay state taxes when you're an out of state student. That's why you pay more, if you had bothered to do 5 seconds of research into the subject you would have found that out.
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I noticed that your major is Aerospace Engineering. UMD is actually ranked better in Aerospace Engineering than Virginia Tech. Also, if you do the Aero/Ocean double major but declare Ocean as your primary major, you will only have to pay in-state tuition since Ocean Engineering isn't offered at any college in Maryland. You are really dumb.
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Boo frickety hoo. You chose to attend Tech knowing full well you'd be paying significantly more in tuition. Since you are taking a spot away from a Virginian, that seems perfectly fair to me. It's not my fault you convinced your parents to pay private-school tuition rates to attend a public university. All of sudden you think it's unfair. Tough. You're also lamenting that Tech is spending money on construction. If you did even a modecum of research you'd discover that capital projects like that are not paid for by tuition - they funded separately by the Virginia legislature using Virginians' tax dollars. You're welcome.
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Hokie Dokie! You should have went to Maryland. Their engineering department is fantastic, especially aerospace. There is a reason why NASA and Goddard all tap UMD's resources. If you lived here in New Jersey I could understand why you would go out of state. My kids did. But 5 minutes from College Park? I hope you work harder on your homework at Va. Tech then you did choosing schools.
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went? really? wow!
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Well Alex, you are in luck. Our friend and President, Barrack Obama recently decided to increase federal funding for college tuitions.
This move ensures that every American college can and will raise tuition knowing full well the funding will be there (via Federal loans) for students to apply and hopefully find a job afterwards.
Also, I am too a Hokie from Maryland. I chose VT over UMD despite UMD having a better business school mainly becuase College Park is a terrible, terrible place. It is not conducive to an academic environment and VT was and still is a good price for out of state tuition.
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But increasing federal funding will only increase demand, thus further inflating the price of college tuition. A large reason why college tuition is so expensive is because the government loans money to virtually anyone who wants it. This artificial increase in demand, spurred on by continual increases in federal funding, only causes the price of education to continue to skyrocket.
On the other hand, if we cut federal funding, then fewer people will go to college, and it will be cheaper for the rest of us.
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I agree with you, Alex. I believe tuition has increased 10% during the past two years for our out-of-state son. The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition is pushing the limits and many out-of-staters will think twice before choosing to pay that difference. Tough crowd.
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