Students complaining about high tuition may have a new ally: the United States Congress.
A recent Congressional proposal would discourage colleges from increasing tuition and punish them if they increased it too much, but Boston University administrators and faculty members said they believe the plan is poorly constructed and will not be passed.
United States House of Representatives member Howard ‘Buck’ McKeon’s (R-Calif.) plan would prohibit colleges from increasing tuition by more than ‘twice the rate of inflation,’ and colleges that do so would be punished, according to a McKeon press release.
McKeon said in the release that his goal is to increase college ‘affordability and accessibility’ and that higher education is a right that every student should be able to realize.
McKeon designed the bill so if a university’s tuition increased by more than twice the average inflation of the fiscal year, the school would be required to provide the U.S. Department of Education with a written report saying why it raised tuition and the measures it would take to lower it, according to the press release. If the college were to fail to lower its tuition the following academic year, ‘sanctions would be triggered,’ including loss of eligibility for federal student financial aid moneys, according to the release.
BU spokesman Colin Riley said inflation has very little to do with tuition increases. He said it is caused instead by the labor-intensive nature of colleges and universities. Employee salaries, benefits and health care are what keep tuition high, he said.
Riley also said only half of BU’s operating budget comes from tuition. The other half comes from research-related funding.
BU Economics associate professor Todd Idson said such a bill, while appearing beneficial to the public, could have many unintentional, negative consequences. The quality and quantity of professors might decrease and result in larger class sizes, building projects might be put on hold and university facilities might not be maintained or improved upon, he said.
Idson said those lobbying for the bill probably do not foresee any decrease in supply or quality of higher education, but predict only an increased demand in it. It is the simultaneous and opposite market forces of decreased supply and increased demand that cause college lobbyists in Washington and BU professors and administrators alike to frown upon such a proposal, he said.
As to whether or not students will see a price ceiling set on the market for higher education any time soon, Riley said it was unlikely.
‘The concept of whether such a bill would pass is an open question,’ Riley said.
Riley said that increases in BU tuition are noticeably lower than the national average.
During the 2002-2003 fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, the national rate of inflation was 3.1 percent. Next semester, BU will raise tuition from $27,042 to $28,512. This 5.4 percent increase is well below the hypothetical 6.2 percent allowed by McKeon’s bill.
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