Filing a financial aid application is usually exhausting, and if you procrastinate like I did, it can also be discouraging. Last year I submitted my application late and I was only offered a $4,500 loan. Considering that my expected family contribution was around $10,000, and tuition was just below $40,000, my parents found they had to pay much more than expected. Even if I had submitted my forms on time, the availability of more aid does not justify the increasing cost of college. Tuition costs alone cut into a large portion of my household income and savings. Luckily, I live at home and therefore avoid the additional costs of room and board, but with yearly increases, my tuition could cost more than $45,000 by the time I graduate. However, my parents have not seen a similar increase in their income.
My financial situation is just one example of the overall trend: When compared to the average income in the U.S., college tuition has constituted a larger portion of families’ incomes year after year. I may not be an expert on the cost of living, but the rising cost of college does not seem to reflect a normal price inflation, and this disparity between income and rising college costs is grossly unfair for middle-and lower-income families.
Next year, the undergraduate tuition will increase from $39,840 to $41,592. If we include room and board and fees, the total price for one year at NU will cost $54,763. The administration claims the increases are necessary to deal with the rising costs of University services and classes, but the cost of college has become outrageously expensive, even with the amount of financial aid offered. In the 2009-10 academic year, tuition with room and board cost $49,791, and in just two years it has jumped by $4,972. If we compare the average household income and calculate the general inflation rate in the last 50 years, the current tuition increase is more than double the average increase in household income and other expenses.
In comparison, the national GDP growth last quarter was 1.8 percent, and overall from 2010 it has increased about 2.9 percent. Since January 2009 the inflation rate dropped and then stayed at roughly 2 percent, according to Trading Economics. Compared to general inflation the increase of 4.4 percent for NU tuition seems ridiculous. As the wage gap continues to widen and many families, especially the middle class, are pressed to spend more without equally measurable income gains, tuition for a year at NU, and other comparable universities, has simply become hyper-inflated. NU tuition and expenses have currently surpassed the average income of Americans, which stands at $50,303.
But it was not always the case that tuition was so high. In 1959, for example, the average income per household in the U.S. was about $5,000, and tuition for a full year at Harvard was $1,250. That represented about 25 percent of the household income at the time.
While financial aid and college loans were not as wildly available in 1959, the average savings rate in the 50s and 60s was much higher than today. Fast forward another 50 years and the tuition for one year at Harvard is $36,992, not including room and board, which represents about 74 percent of the average income. If we include all other expenses, one year at Harvard could cost up to $61,172.
When compared to the average inflation rate since 1959, according to the CPI Index and GDP ratio, what cost $1,250 in tuition 50 years ago should cost less than $10,000 today. Many colleges and universities defend tuition increases with greater increases in the availability of financial aid, but offering more loans to more students is not a promising solution. In the short run, loans and grants offer more students the chance to attend college, some of which could not do so otherwise. But in the long run, college debt has become a national issue. This year, the total college loan debt is nearing one trillion dollars, and it has become increasingly difficult to pay off those student loans as a result of job insecurity and underemployment.
The increase in NU tuition and that of all colleges may be predictable, but it’s not necessarily fair. While NU, and other expensive universities, are private institutions that can set their own tuition costs, I think it is a little amoral for universities to increase tuition every year at such high rates, considering the lack of an equal increase in the average income of Americans. Even with financial aid and the availability of student loans, the cost of tuition is ridiculously high and does not reflect a normal inflation rate.
Vasiliki Mitrakos is a Weinberg sophomore. She can be reached at [email protected]
