Soaring college tuition prompts political response
WASHINGTON- The cost of a college education, which has risen steadily for a
decade, soared for the 2003-04 school year. And now, it is becoming a political
A new report issued Tuesday showed that average tuition and fees at four-year
public colleges rose 14 percent, to $4,694. Similarly, costs at two-year public
schools rose 13.8 percent, to $1,095.
And at private universities, where costs run higher, prices rose 6 percent, to
$19,710.
The College Board, an association of colleges and universities that issued the
report, blamed the economy and a shortfall of federal and state revenues. The
group said many students have been protected from tuition hikes by the growing
availability of financial aid.
Even so, the latest figures took on a political
charge as Republicans accused colleges and uni
versities of wasting taxpayer funds on 'avish
campus facilities. Among those cited were large
hot tubs, sunbathing decks and massage facili
ties, as well as a rock-climbing wall at a recre
ation center at the University of Houston.
Elwyn Lee, vice president for student affairs at
the University of Houston, objected to his
school's 264,000-square-foot, $53 million recre
ation center being used as an example of college
largesse. He said the facility was built at student
request and is being financed with a $75-a
-semester fee
"There are no massage parlors. There are no
pedicure places in our facility," Lee said. "Some
people are speaking and letting their enthusiasm get away from them."
But Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Education and the
Workforce Committee, said colleges and universities have not been held account
able for such spending.
"Hyperinflation in college costs has been pummeling parents and students for
more than a decade, and the problem has not been a lack of spending by states or
the federal government," he said. "The bigger issue is whether institutions are
accountable enough to parents, students and taxpayers, and clearly they are not."
College Board officials said schools have taken steps to tighten their belts as the
recession shrunk tax revenues. While they were reluctant to forecast future trends,
they noted that college tuition and fees also had escalated during earlier reces
sions.
"It is a problem, (but) it is not an unprecedented problem," said Sandy Baum, an
economics professor at Skidmore College, who wrote the board's annual "Trends
in College Pricing."
In blaming the trend on tax revenue shortfalls, university officials tapped into
Republican angst about being accused of under-funding public education in
advance of next year's presidential election. Democrats used the report to accuse
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By ROBERT DODGE
The Dallas Morning News (KRT)
Republicans of draining education coffers to pay for President Bush's tax cuts.
"Republican tax and budget cuts have hurt students by forcing states to raise
tuition," said Rep. George Miller of California, the ranking Democrat on the
House education committee.
Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, warned against initiatives that
would limit the ability of institutions to freely set tuition and fees. But Boehner has
praised a bill introduced by Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., that would allow the
federal government to cut off federal subsidies to institutions that repeatedly
impose "exorbitant" tuition increases.
Daniel Langan, an Education Department spokesman, said the Bush administra
tion would take a serious look at McKeon's proposal. And he accused critics of
using "inflammatory rhetoric," noting the administration's 2004 budget would
boost funds for grants, loans and work-study opportunities by $2.8 billion.
The College Board report showed that during the last decade, tuition and fees
rose 47 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis at four-year public universities and
22 percent at two-year public schools. Cost at private
universities rose 42 percent.
Despite the increases, college officials said they are
struggling.
"All of us need to focus on the mounting and troubling
hardships of financing an education," said Caperton,
who is a former Democratic governor of West Virginia.
David Ward, president of the American Council on
Education, said reduced earnings on endowments and
fewer financial gifts by alumni and corporations also
contributed to funding shortages.
"We are in the middle of a very difficult period in
financing higher education," he said.
College Board officials said that a dip in room and
board costs at both public and private schools helped
moderate the tuition hikes.
They also said the effects of tuition and fee hikes were
less burdensome on student pocketbooks because almost 60 percent of undergrad
uates receive financial aid. They said financial aid has been rising to further soft
en the blow.
Statistics for student aid are a year behind tuition and fees.
During the 2002-03 school year, total financial aid rose to $lO5 billion, up 14.5
percent over the previous year. And during the past decade, financial aid rose 203
percent, up from $34 billion in the 1992-93 academic year.
College Board officials said that financial aid left the "average student" well
positioned to absorb increased costs. But they acknowledged that 40 percent of
students receive no aid and have to shoulder the additional expense.
(Staff writer Linda K. Wertheimer contributed to this report.)
(c) 2003, The Dallas Morning News.
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