As a St. Cloud State student, the increases in tuition and fees at this university are of great concern to me. The increases in tuition, as many of you know, began this past fall when our tuition went up by 11 percent due to state funding cuts. Tuition increased again when only 9.5 percent of students voted yes for new recreation facilities. The third increase is just now being worked out, but with the legislature's vote to cut $50 million in higher education, our tuition is likely to go up by 13 percent or more.
The first increase in tuition brought the cost for a Minnesota resident up to approximately $3,290 per year. The sports facility increase will bring tuition up to $3,362 in fall of 2002. By fall 2005, this will raise tuition by $108 per year. Now, with another 13 percent increase in tuition, we will be paying almost $3,800 per year for our education.
To many of us who are trying to make ends meet and who are trying to finance our own education, the jump from $2,928 per year only one year ago to $3,800 this coming fall is a huge blow. In total, this is a 33 percent increase in only one year!
The cuts in funding by the legislature are done and there is nothing that any of us can do about them at this point. The allocation of resources at this university and the increase in fees are another matter entirely.
We, as the ones who are taking the financial hit, must make it known that we do not approve of these dramatic increases in our tuition and fees. This university needs to recognize the needs of its students and find ways to re-allocate funding so that our tuition does not go up by the projected 13 percent in fall 2002 and that more increases in fees of any kind do not happen.
Valerie Winters
Biomedical Science
Senior
