Petition is right to stop tuition hikes

by: Chloe Nguyen on November 9, 2011

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Public and higher education in Utah should be the state’s first priority. Putting education first puts our economy first, and students should not have to cover the expenses that the Legislature refused to allocate.

Students should not have to keep increasing the amount they pay toward education—it’s still the same education they were paying for four years ago.
Since 2008, state tax funding for higher education in Utah has been cut 14 percent, or $106 million, according to ASUU’s Government Relations Board.

The student movement Education First has united ASUU with the student governments of other colleges and universities around the state to petition against further gouging of higher education budgets.

By cutting funding, Utah legislators are directly inhibiting our generation’s economic success, said Tianna Tu, a sophomore in English and political science, and chair of the committee that created the petition.

“Nearly every student we have approached has been very interested to hear more about Education First,” she said.

By 2018, it is expected that two-thirds of jobs nationwide, about 1 million jobs in Utah, will require postsecondary certificates or degrees in order to be economically stable, according to a study by Georgetown University. Less than 40 percent of Utahns hold at least a two-year degree, according to the Lumina Foundation.

How can we become the future leaders of the state if the Legislature won’t support us in achieving a university education?

Tony Passey, a U Master of Finance, said the petition was “a poor use of power by our current student body presidency” launched to “scare [the student body] into pressuring the Legislature into acting in higher education’s best interest.”

The lack of funding, for Passey, might be because of faculty on the U’s payroll getting too much for what they do.

Superficially, salaries do seem high. The highest earned salary at the U is $1.2 million, according to Utahrights.com, but that is for football head coach Kyle Whittingham. Almost all of the next 300 highest salaries are doctors, surgeons or other medical professionals not your average professor.

Even if students cannot say how much a faculty member should earn, we can voice our opinions about why our tuition keeps increasing.

From a student’s perspective, the petition is not a poor use of power. Every time the Legislature cuts funding for higher education, students either pay more in tuition or lose services. In 2011 alone, tuition increased roughly $400. Since 2006, tuition has increased by more than $1,000.

Don Willie, a senior in public administration and ASUU’s Government Relations director, said many students are unaware of the ramifications aside from tuition increases, and some are apathetic to the issue.

“Some students have commented that they don’t care about it because their parents pay,” Willie said. “My response would be, ‘say that in 20 years when your tuition is up to $15,000 a year and you have four kids to put through college.’ ”

Willie also said the U has several buildings without heat, a failing power grid, some buildings that are literally falling apart alongside a water system that leaks.

Funding higher education should be a concern for every student on campus, but we don’t give it nearly the attention it needs. The petition asks for at least 20,000 signatures from Utah’s eight campuses combined, with the U’s goal being 4,000—we currently have 2,000.

The Legislature will take this issue seriously if we take it seriously.

Short URL: http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/?p=2557900

Posted by Chloe Nguyen on Nov 9 2011. Filed under Columns, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.