Santa and Board of Trustees decide the SIU future

Ana Velitchkova
Eye on Earth

While most of us are too busy with final papers, exams and preparation for the holidays to think about the future of the University, officials are working toward deciding tuition and fees for next year.

The Board of Trustees will vote on tuition and fees for next year in the next few months. If you care, you can come and help them make a good decision.

Here's some background:

According to the SIU Fact Book, in 2001 tax money constituted 72.2 percent of the total funds needed to run the University. In 2004, the tax support to this public institution will drop to 64 percent.

Not that the state doesn't want to support education, but it depends on the federal level. On the federal level, other sectors, such as the military, have priority. Also, tax cuts seem to benefit the economy.

At the same time, the University needs to run normally and even plans growth, outlined in Southern at 150. Therefore, not only it has to find additional funding, but also it has to compensate the reduced state support. There are two options: Find other sources of funding or increase tuition. As benefactors so wealthy and generous as the state are difficult to find, the University has been raising tuition.

Due to similar situations at many universities, the citizens have been unhappy and requested the state to take measures against the uncertainty families face when financing their children's education. The result of the complaints is a regulation obliging public universities to keep the tuition at the same level for four years for all new entering resident undergraduate students starting from fall 2004.

This regulation does not solve the problem, though. With it the state washes its hands and leaves the door open for the universities to explore any other funding option.

The SIUC administration proposes to increase 7.1 percent the tuition of the returning undergraduates, 15.9 percent that of the new undergraduates as it has to stay the same for four years.

Moreover, the revenue still does not seem to be enough.

According to the same proposal, all new non-resident students would have to pay two and a half times the tuition of the residents. Why would the state taxpayers care to support a diverse student population?

For the new undergraduates from out-of-state, this is a 45 percent increase. Then, hopefully, the revenue would be enough.

The uncertainty in the proposal is whether students could afford this increase, and if they could, whether they would choose to invest at SIU. Is there really going to be enough revenue?

The planned tuition increase obviously aims at changing student demographics.

The number of richer kids choosing SIU has to increase in order for the budget proposal to work. Do the University and the city have the image and the resources to meet the higher expectations of these richer kids? Can SIU afford in the long run whatever is needed to maintain the desired higher ranking?

While trying to attract richer students, would SIU continue to be "an affordable people's university?" Isn't there a danger that groups traditionally attending SIU, such as first generation, minority, disadvantaged and international students, who usually are not wealthy, would not feel welcome any more? In such a case, diversity would suffer.

For example, some programs, many of which research oriented, such as engineering and computer science, depend on international student enrollment. Without support and given the proposed increased tuition, international students are unlikely to choose SIU.

If SIU is not able to attract richer students and meanwhile loses its traditional students, total enrollment would drop dramatically.

What would an enrollment drop bring to the University, to the city businesses and to the region's economy and reputation? Terminate the dream of Southern at 150?

The main student bodies, USG, GPSC and ISC, opposed the proposed tuition. Does this matter? Does anybody else have an opinion?

Let Santa bring a lot of wisdom to the Board of Trustees because their task is not an easy one. Also, let him make education a priority in people's minds and in decision-makers' agendas.

Those interested in what I had to say two weeks ago could find my unpublished column (my fault) on the Daily Egyptian website.

Eye on Earth appears every Thursday. Ana is a graduate in student in foreign languages and literature from Bulgaria. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.

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