Amid the flurry of discussion concerning the 8.5 percent tuition increase for next year, one issue has commanded special attention.

During the Town Hall meeting a few weeks ago, Student Government Association Financial Vice President Chris Pingel asked Saint Louis University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., about the possibility of SLU employing differentiated tuition rates.

“Differential tuition rates are designed to lighten the burden of tuition increases on returning students. An example of this can be illustrated by looking at Fordham University, which charged $400 less to returning students,” said Pingel. “On a grander scale, differential tuition pricing can involve systems as friendly as frozen tuition. That is, you sign on to a specific and unchanging cost when you first arrive on campus.”

Creighton, Loyola University New Orleans, Xavier and Fordham are some of the other Jesuit universities operating under differentiated tuition.

This is in contrast to SLU, where the tuition increases vary yearly.

Freshman tuition rates must be higher to compensate for the relief that the continuing students would get. This ensures that people know what sort of four-year financial commitment they are making at the onset.

This is the sort of thing that Pingel thinks could elevate student morale. “It lessens the financial burden on upperclassmen,” he says.

Pingel believes that differentiated tuition would be a step in the right direction.

While SLU does an excellent job of advertising and getting people in the door, “they don’t really take care of students once they’re in there,” said Pingel.

Vice President of Enrollment and Academic Services John Baworowsky disagrees with the idea of differentiated tuition, at least for a private university.

Baworowsky addressed the frozen differentiated tuition model-as mentioned earlier-where each class pays its own respective flat rate all four years.

“Freezing tuition for four years is a model that some schools use. It’s a bad model-it causes a major increase in tuition each year,” said Baworowsky.

Baworowsky pointed out that the Federal Stafford Student Loans offer relief on an incremental basis. Under the stafford loan, freshmen get $3,500, sophomores get $4,500 and juniors and seniors get $5,500.

Baworowsky added that public universities use differentiated tuition because they’re mandated to do so by the state legislatures, not necessarily because it is the better alternative.

At the same time, there are many private universities that are trying to get themselves out of the differentiated tuition system.

Another danger of differentiated tuition is that it restricts a university from having a dynamic and fluctuating tuition to accommodate the kind of expenses that cannot be predicted.

“You don’t know how expenses are going to change from year to year,” said Baworowsky, citing the wavering costs of natural gas as an example.

Instituting differentiated tuition at SLU would be a “huge increase in tuition for the freshman class,” says Baworowsky.

Pingel agrees: “If SLU was to do this, the price tag the first year would be huge.”

The switch to differentiated tuition would initially bring some financial turbulence. But, after the first year, the system would start to run its course.

Differentiated tuition makes unpredictable increases in tuition a thing of the past, and it promotes student retention.

“Under any model of differentiated tuition, what will decrease is the increase in price freshman year to senior year,” says Pingel.

Both systems have their positives and negatives. Thus, it is difficult to anticipate which one would fit SLU best. Those on both sides of the issue argue that their approach is the best solution for students and the University.

“I’m curious to know why SLU shot the idea down [in the town hall meeting],” said Pingel.