Boston University students responded to President Robert Brown’s recent announcement that tuition will rise $1,610 over current rates for the 2008-09 academic year, while housing, board and student fees also increase, with concerns about financial aid levels and questions regarding university spending.
“Of course I’m not happy about it,” College of Arts and Sciences freshman Hannah Simkins said. “I’m worried about how the increase will affect my financial aid. I understand that some inflation is necessary, but this seems steep.”
Thomas Whaley, a College of Engineering junior, said he took out a loan to cover the full cost of tuition this year after his parents paid for his first two years of college. Now, with the tuition hike, he is expecting to graduate with even more debt than before.
“You can’t start life at $100,000 in debt,” Whaley said. “You don’t dream about being in debt when you’re a little kid.”
Whaley said students are not “getting their money’s worth” at BU.
“I’d like to know what the money is going to,” Whaley said. “I think [BU] is more worried about the aesthetics of things. I expected [tuition] to increase but not that much. I thought I would see the changes.”
Whaley said he would like to see small, but important changes, such as campuswide wireless Internet availability and Terrier Card acceptance at more businesses, in light of increased tuition costs.
School of Hospitality Administration freshman Melissa David called the tuition hike to $36,540 “insane,” and said she wanted to know why tuition is set to increase at that rate.
Several students said they want to know more about how BU spends its revenue.
“It feels sort of unnecessary when you see the things the university is spending its money on,” CAS sophomore Marissa DeSimone said. “The university needs to be clearer about where the money will be going.”
DeSimone cited the redesign of BU’s logo as an unnecessary expenditure, and said the money it will cost to apply the new look to signs and stationary is being wasted. She said she thinks if students were unhappy with funding use, they would be more vocal about demanding tuition stabilization.
CAS freshman Jenna Witkowski said student concerns stem from BU’s vague explanation for why tuition increased.
“If they had a valid reason then maybe students would be less upset,” she said.
“I definitely didn’t expect [tuition] to increase the way that it did,” ENG senior Brandon Phillips said. “Financial aid packages do not increase to match the increase in tuition.”
College of Communication freshman Tetyana Pecherska speculated as to what contributes to the rising college costs.
“I want to say I don’t like it, but colleges do have to put up with inflation,” Pecherska said. “I’m sure they’re not making us pay this much for no reason.”
Pecherska said she thinks BU’s spending should be made public to students and parents.
“If it’s only benefiting certain people, it seems less reasonable,” she said. “But if it is going to help the dorms or a project, that helps everyone. It makes it better.”
Staff member Lisa Merolla contributed reporting to this article.
