UT budget release

University parents and students alike are feeling the heat this summer as the fall semester creeps closer and closer. With wallets and bank accounts emptying faster than we can fill them, a college education at a university level is becoming a liability rather than an asset.

More than three weeks ago, UT finalized their budget for the upcoming fiscal year in a 25-page document, stating a tuition increase of 3.5 percent for undergraduates and 6.5 percent for graduate students. Those 25 pages have the potential to slowly decrease future enrollment, student organization recruitment, food purchases, and anything else extra that students may be able to do without while going to school. If some are barely able to afford their tuition every semester, why would they sign up for extra classes, join a fraternity, or buy a Starbucks coffee three times a week?

UT, however, sounds like it’s not the only university that’s suffering financially. According to the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities, 11 public universities in Florida raised tuition by 15 percent last year. A similar increase occurred the year before, resulting in a total two-year increase of 32 percent. In Minnesota, budget cuts caused over 9,400 students to lose their state financial aid grants. Depending on the university, with Alabama’s tuition increases as high as 32 percent and New York’s increasing by 14 percent, the list just goes on and on.

College, in the tail end of a financial crisis, has become a questionable step in an individual’s life, reaching for their wallets with shaking hands. According to Dr. Jacobs, the UT Board of Trustees searched high and low for places to make adjustments and cuts. Who would have thought they’d pick the spot that would hurt their customers, the students, the most.

Programs and staff have also been reduced. The beauty of having more professors and class sections is the available flexibility to students who also work. Students who have jobs try their best to coordinate their school schedules with their work schedules. They take night classes, night shifts at work, or work double on the weekends. A limited number of available classes due to the limited number of professors will make the creation of class schedules much more difficult on these particular students.

Top administrators express their deep sympathies by saying, “Increasing tuition is the last thing we’d want to do. We just didn’t have any other choice.” If we remember back on our first day of orientation with UT, we’ll remember our guide or dean of our college of choice that UT is here for the student. The college is here to serve our needs and help us during our journey toward educational success.

Dr. Jacobs called UT’s approach to this situation as “student-centered.” What, may I ask, is “student-centered” when we’re asked to shell out money for fees here and fees there? Perhaps the key is to prioritize spending habits and evenly distribute what’s available. UT can focus its spending on what the college needs to meet the overall needs of the students, instead of just the athletes, just the pre-med students, or just the researchers.