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Posts tagged ‘tuition’

Sep 25

Tuition and Freedom

Rachel Pagano’s recent column in The Campus is well worth a read.  An excerpt:

In economic terms we [college graduates] will be in the same predicament as the house owners. We will have spent an enormous amount of money on something which has a market value far less than what we paid for it. It would be a sad commencement to life after college if we resent the education needed to make us free. This is a problem exaggerated by the less than robust nature of the American economy and the enormous debt which America has accrued. Thus, to make America a land of opportunity both in theory and practice we must all save more so that we can make it possible for not only ourselves but for our children to be a part of the history of opportunity. And colleges must be aware that since a liberal arts education is a human good, freedom of the mind should not be priced so that it forces those seeking it to place themselves in bondage.

To be clear, I think her argument for American exceptionalism in the first part of her column is quite simplistic. Also, from a purely economic point of view, I’m not sure that Middlebury isn’t worth the money: I would guess that eventually, most Middlebury alumni earn back their tuition and then some.

But her overall point, that we shouldn’t let rising tuition and the terrible economy destroy learning for learning’s sake, is really important to consider.  Yes, we should think about jobs, the practical real world and helping others. But we’re also here to liberate ourselves.

Feb 17

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President Liebowitz’s Tuition Proposal Gets Press

Both Inside Higher Ed and a New York Times blog have now reported on President Liebowitz’s speech last Friday.  The stories focus on Liebowitz’s proposal to not increase the comprehensive fee at a rate of more than one percent of Consumer Price Index.

The New York Times piece cites Professor Laura Perna of UPenn, who argues that Middlebury does not yet need to cap increases on tuition out of financial necessity.  Intuitively, this makes sense: we are not yet at the point at which affluent families will stop paying for Middlebury.

If Professor Perna’s analysis is correct, President Liebowitz is proposing this cap on tuition for reasons beyond price elasticity.  Instead, I see this cap as a bi-product of the real significance of Liebowitz’s speech—his calling out the “arms race” between colleges in better economic times.

As I see it, this “arms race” included the perceived need to increase spending on facilities, faculty, and student life in order to attract students and donations.  This led to increasing the comprehensive fee above the Consumer Price Index.

I find it really encouraging that President Liebowitz seems to have the right priorities: cutting back on Middlebury’ increases in spending, while keeping the College’s core mission in place.

To be clear, an integral part of Liebowitz’s plan is to use our auxiliary programs to cover some of the losses from the decreases in revenue from tuition and donations.  I’m a little skeptical of the ability of our auxiliary programs to cover these losses over the long-term, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see more cuts, at least in the near future.

But I find President Liebowitz’s overall message and approach really encouraging.  So please continue covering this story, dear New York Times.  Because Middlebury can’t end the “arms race” alone.

Original midd-blog coverage of the speech here.  Transcript here.

Aug 23

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Middkid Uses Facebook to Raise Tuition Funds

If you were loitering around Facebook Friday afternoon, then the chances are that you got to see our College Book Store manager Robert Jansen’s hard-to-miss shout out (a rather rare occasion) to over 1,900 of his Facebook friends:

“Please help Anna so she can return to Middlebury for the Fall Semester. As a thank you – you can earn a poem from her all the way to being her friend for life. Please check out the event, join the event, have your friends join too, and most importantly donate to this great cause!”

And more importantly, what followed was a link to a public Facebook event page named in bold capital letters “SEND ANNA TO SCHOOL” where Anna, “after debating on whether or not to do [it], ’cause it seems a bit low and desperate,” explains her financial situation and straight-up asks her Facebook friends for help:

“I am $3500 away from going to Middlebury in the Fall. The school costs $52 grand, so I’m not too far off. I am maxed out on loans, and so are my parents, so I’m reaching out to friends and family to try and do a little fund-raising.”

Anna digs poetry, and she seems to be a poet herself. As a way to say “Thank You!” to her generous donors and scholarship sponsors, she promises poems, pictures, poetry collections, and even framed poems (oh, that I like!) depending on the amount of tuition funds one decides to give her.

And there’s more. Anna writes:

“I have 360ish friends, and if I got $10 from everyone, I could go! But, I doubt that everyone on my friend list would/could chip in. However, its worth a shot, right?”

Unfortunately though, not everyone will offer help. That’s where Mr. Jansen (or Bookstore Bob) comes in. He is a co-admin of the Facebook event. Compared to Anna’s 360-something peer count on Facebook, Robert pulls 1,900 friends into the event, thus raising awareness for this cause to, thru simple addition, more than two thousand folks.

And really, who cares even if they don’t really know her? Help a Middkid out! It doesn’t have to be big, even. How about, say, five dollars? That’s like holding back on a trip to the Grille for a Love Me Tender or the Wilson Cafe for one of the Specialty Latte’s (and a cookie, yum), isn’t it? But I guess no pressure here.

This is an example of  something deeper, more meaningful than the simple fundraiser. This is our community at work and Bob Jansen helped turn an appeal to a few friends into an appeal to Middlebury at large. But why? Is it online social media savvy, a simple act of kindness, or both?

You decide. As for me, here’s a slow clap for Mr. Jansen and a wish to see Anna here in the Fall.

Anna Gallagher is in the Middlebury College Class of 2012. If you’re feeling generous today, then why not log into Facebook and check out her page here!

Dec 3

Cost of Middlebury

My quick (and non-scientific) calculation finds that the cost of a Middlebury education ($49,210) represents 98% of the median annual income ($50,233 in 2007) for an American family.

Read about how College May Soon Become Unaffordable for Most Americans (NYTimes.com).

…published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent.

(via Wesleying)

Oct 15

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Is Turning Off the Lights Enough?

In 2006, Middlebury College collected $122,491,000 in tuition and fees. To put it in student terms, that is 24,498,200 Love-me-Tenders (or Dr. Feelgoods).

In 2006, the golf-shop, Snow Bowl, and the Bookstore made $812,910 in business income combined. To put it in student terms, that is 2,623 Prof. Colander Economics textbooks priced at $122 a pop.

Students have a hard time grasping the sense of financial scale when we hardly ever spend a dime outside an occasional Grille run or a night out at Two Brothers in town. And so President Liebowitz’s recent email to students about the Financial Crisis may mean very little to students. That said, Ron did a fantastic job of laying it out in simple terms. His main message: the College needs to tighten our belt but we’re still in a better position than most.

He even made a suggestion box! How very 5th-grade student council of him. OK, it’s a good concept to solicit feedback but I don’t think students are chomping at the bit to submit proposals to get rid of all dryers and printers on campus.

But that said, why do we not care about the school? Maybe it’s because we think of this Financial Crisis in terms of whether we can afford tuition next semester or whether we will get real jobs when graduate. We have a hard time bringing it back to the dorm room. The numbers at the top of this post mean nothing when it’s departments and offices around campus that have to do the cutting. The numbers mean nothing when we don’t really know how much an Axinn center or Hillcrest costs in terms of donation money. How will we feel the pinch and will we even notice until we’re out looking for a job?

UPDATE: Compare Ron’s message with that of Wesleyan University President Michael Roth who posted on his blog some feelings about moving forward in the Financial Crisis. Personally, I’d opt for the details that Liebowitz provides in his FAQ letter over the Roth’s generalities in his blog post. Then again, over the several months I’ve checked Roth’s blog, Roth certainly is quite in-tune with the undergrad student body to an extent Liebowitz has yet to achieve.