balancing the budget on the back of students

[smileyeagle1021]

Okay, as if it wasn't bad enough that we already pay the highest taxes as a percentage of our income (Utah has no student tax deductions or credits, and most of us have no dependents to claim), the state has decided that is not enough, they must bleed us dry and scream for mercy.
On the list of things to balance the education budget next year:
Raise college and university tuition up to 9%
Raise parking fees by up to 25%
Increase class sizes (both for k-12 and higher ed)
Place enrollment caps on previously open enrollment colleges
and y'alls may want to sit down for this one
for UVU student transit passes, for those who live in Utah Valley and don't have to take the intercounty express services there will be a 3420% increase in transit pass price. Now for us Salt Lakers who do have to use the intercounty express, that increase will be 8100% increase.
No, those aren't typos, those are meant to be in the thousands of percent.
While I will conceed that the prices we pay now are unrealistically low, holy fuck an 8100% increase.
The other university are sure to have similar increases (last year SLCC did a 2800% increase in transit pass prices, and will likely raise prices again).

Oh, and do you know what they are asking the parents with 8 kids bogging down the k-12 system to pay to help balance the budget?
That's right, absolutely nothing.

[joe hx]

This makes me wonder: how many of the students this will affect are able to vote? Certainly not most of the k-12 students. How many of the university students are out of state and cannot vote?

If, so, it makes sense... politically at least. Rob the people who can't vote you out of office.

[Greenday]

So...how much are they now before the increase? Because when California raised their prices for tuition, students cried bloody murder but they were paying next to nothing compared to the rest of the country as it was.

[smileyeagle1021]

tuition is currently $2144 per semester on average, talking about raising that 9%
parking is currently $40 a semester, no official proposal yet, but rumors of a 25% increase
transit pass,
current $20 a year, which yes is unrealistically low (but I know that our student fees right now are funding most of the cost of that, and there is no explanation of where the student fees will be diverted to after they are no longer subsidizing the transit passes). Proposed increase is to $135 a month ($1620 per year for those of us who go to school year round)... that is for the students who commute intercounty.
Oh, and those student fees are at $308 a semester, which now covers transit passes... how the hell are they able to do that now, but will require over $1600 starting next year.
And as a tidbit, I can't find the source anymore, but UVU student government has published articles in the past showing that Utah subsidizes schools so little that they fail to meet the federal definition of a public university.

[Greenday]

The only colleges in PA/NJ I know of that offer tuition that cheap are community colleges. My college was around $4k in state (one of the cheapest state schools in PA from what I learned). I paid just over $8k a semester as an out of state student.

NJ state schools?

TCNJ: $13.5k a semester in state
Montclair: almost $4k a semester
Rutgers: $10-11k a semester depending on major
Rowan: $6k a semester

I mean, a 9% increase from $2144 is $2336.96. Hardly a travesty.

I only paid $50 a year for parking but our school was small and makes shitloads of money off people who park on the streets.

We had no transit fees, but there was no transit.

[AdminAssistant]

My university is currently about $4k for state residents and $10k for out-of-staters. That's for undergrads, of course. My tuition, if I had to pay it, would be about $8k a semester. Depending, of course, on how many credit hours you take. Fees are around $500/semester. Parking is ridiculous. I pay around $200/year, but I get to park in a garage right across the street from my building, so it's worth it. Through an arrangement with the city, KU students are able to ride both university and city buses for free.

Of course, that could all change. Right now our new governor (also bought and paid for by the Koch brothers) does not have his eye on higher education. Yet. Even if he does, my school is big enough and has enough donors to absorb the blow. I do worry about furloughs and pay cuts (since I'm paid directly by the state, not the university), but TA's are the only organized work force on campus, and the university would effectively shut down without cheap labor to run classes and discussion sections, grade, and do the actual work behind teaching classes.

But that's not the issue.

The issue is not what students in other states pay. The issue is that the Utah government is rapidly and greatly increasing the cost of education for its students, to the point where some may not be able to continue their educations and fewer students will be able to go to college. There also seems to be an issue where the government is taking from those unable or least likely to vote, where there is a much richer source of funds, namely, middle-aged, middle-class Mormons (I'm guessing) who are inundating the state with too many kids for the K-12, and then the university, system to handle.

I've always thought that Utah was the place where fun went to die, I guess it's now the place where learning goes to die as well.

[Greenday]

The issue is that the Utah government is rapidly and greatly increasing the cost of education for its students, to the point where some may not be able to continue their educations and fewer students will be able to go to college.

If people can't afford $2,336.96 a semester, I have a hard time believe they could afford $2,144 a semester. How slow do you think they should raise their tuition? If $200 in a year is too much, what do you suggest? A whole $5 maybe a year maybe?

[Andara Bledin]

Oh, and those student fees are at $308 a semester, which now covers transit passes... how the hell are they able to do that now, but will require over $1600 starting next year.

That's easy: They aren't. Someone's been hemorrhaging money over that for ages.

Although, $135 a month for a transit pass seems a little steep, but if it covers multiple counties, I can certainly see it as being reasonable. The current fare for in-county all lines around here is $84 a month, so multiple counties for an additional 60% isn't bad at all.

^-.-^

[smileyeagle1021]

If people can't afford $2,336.96 a semester, I have a hard time believe they could afford $2,144 a semester. How slow do you think they should raise their tuition? If $200 in a year is too much, what do you suggest? A whole $5 maybe a year maybe?

You forget, (and this applies to your previous post as well), Utah has some of the lowest pay in the nation. People who were barely scraping by at $2144 won't be able to afford ANY more tuition. For context, the total cost of education per student in Utah is cheaper than what you were paying in tuition (total cost per student is rougly $3500... mainly because the pay is lower and professors and staff cost less).

Also, $200 a semester would be a $400 a year difference if not more (if taking summer semester as well).

Also, everyting else that has been said ignores the fact that despite most of the increases in education costs have been K-12 because of all the large families, yet it is college students who must pay more and not the large families (in fact, perversely, the larger they are, the less they pay).

[Andara Bledin]

And along with your lower pay, you have much lower cost of living. If I wanted to live in, say, Salt Lake City in a fairly nice apartment, I'd pay about 1/2 of what I pay here in the greater Los Angeles area.

I can't say about everything, but for a typical receptionist position at a small company, the average rate in SLC is $10.99, which isn't significantly lower than the $11.89 rate that you'd get here, and is worth a whole hell of a lot more when you consider that you'd only be paying half the rent.

Wages as a stand-alone figure is pretty useless.

^-.-^

[insertNameHere]

This is what my university did, they were cutting programs to save money, ALSO added I believe $50 fee a semester to help pay for the new arena they wanted to build, this is after they blew money that was supposed to go for that on an ATHLETE ONLY workout center attached to the football stadium with more equipment than our rec center... that the whole campus can use. Also, they had to rebuild part of it because they didn't fucking put rebar in some of the cement and realized it late.

I think going from $20 A year??? to $135 a month is too fucking steep, I can see maybe $20 a month, with gas prices, things could be much worse. Our public school system has cut buses for the highschool kids, which is BS this a rural area, and not all parents have the time or money to drive their kids to school and the elementary still gets buses, they were on the same buses for awhile because it is sort of pointless to have 2 buses running the same point 15 minutes apart. sure some time is lost but the savings are worth it.

I'm glad I graduated and don't need to worry about bullshit fees, I took a co-op that was 4 credit hours, I also had to pay all the university general fees..... I also took an online course and had to pay the same fees with "distance" listed before the fee names. because they need to pay for the online infrastructure that is the same all the on campus classes use. If they can make a fee they will.

edit:

OH an I forgot they keep calling me to see if I will donate money to help the university, one of the lines were did you get an academic assistance or scholarships that money needs to come from someone.... yeah right, I graduated and work for minimum wage, find me a fucking job and maybe I will donate some money but our career center is a joke and I went to a job fair a year ago as I'm entitled to being alumni, AT LEAST half of the employers were not hiring for anything, and were NOT replacing retiring employees, although a few did give me some feedback on my resume.

[Andara Bledin]

If we really wanted to focus on the cost of education, we'd stop giving sports scholarships. Unless you're one of about only 10 colleges/universities in the US, even the football program (the most lucrative of the bunch) costs more than it brings in.

^-.-^

[AdminAssistant]

My school is one of the few that does make a profit on its athletic program. The infrastructure still sucks. In fact, there's a new debate that our athletes (basketball players in particular) should be paid a wage in addition to all the scholarships and perks they are given. Um, no. Maybe they should get a cash bonus for actually winning the NCAA, but that's it.

[insertNameHere]

My school is one of the few that does make a profit on its athletic program. The infrastructure still sucks. In fact, there's a new debate that our athletes (basketball players in particular) should be paid a wage in addition to all the scholarships and perks they are given. Um, no. Maybe they should get a cash bonus for actually winning the NCAA, but that's it.

People always say we need a good football team or else people won't want to come here..... I'm sorry I came for an education, the only people who SHOULD consider to attend based on the football team are the people who are going to play on it or support it (people going into physical training, sports marketing) but for the majority of the campus football isn't shit except a reason to go tailgate when the weather is nice.

I love the argument that was given for the full ride scholarships is because of all the training they needed to do for the teams, they didn't have time to get a job.... I'm sorry they get the most expensive meal plan for free that was 3X higher than the lowest possible meal plan that most students were given(edit: actually meant REQUIRED TO PAY FOR). They didn't have to pay a dime to live in the best dorms. And they weren't paying shit for classes, not that half of them went.

However, Plenty of people were going to classes, paying for food, paying for dorms and had a job to do it, and were accumulating debt. So, what if they accumulate a couple grand in credit card debt because they want to party. The rest of the student population is paying significantly more

[Greenday]

My school is one of the few that does make a profit on its athletic program. The infrastructure still sucks. In fact, there's a new debate that our athletes (basketball players in particular) should be paid a wage in addition to all the scholarships and perks they are given. Um, no. Maybe they should get a cash bonus for actually winning the NCAA, but that's it.

If they receive any money, the NCAA will ban them from their sport.