The grinding of teeth, the exasperated sighs and the rebudgeting of checkbooks are in full force after the release of the President’s January Message. The message is a mass e-mail from Father lawrence Biondi, S.J., detailing the upcoming budget and educational improvements for Saint Louis University. This year, a 6.5 percent increase in undergraduate tuition and other fee increases are prescribed measure for “what are absolutely necessary to continue moving SLU forward.”
I am cautious to disparage the school administration for the cost increase knowing that running a private university is a pricier endeavor. But how pricey is something that, as students, I think we need to know.
Current SLU tuition for the 2007-2008 academic years is $31,600 per year compared to the national average of $26,889 per year. However, when one considers that the national rate of inflation for the year 2007 was 2.8 percent and our increase is 6.5 percent one needs to question where all the pennies are going. Surely the cost of running a university does not need to increase at twice the rate of inflation of the country?
Technological innovation in the classroom, new security on campus, and additional academic initiatives are prominently displayed in the letter as part of $9 million in new spending. One will not deny the costs for improved security as needless in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings and our current on-campus crime.
What the e-mail does not address is what exactly our new academic initiatives are? Are these initiatives that much in demand? How many professors are needed to instruct them? Could the money spent on these new initiatives have been better served strengthening existing programs? It is important to me to know what kinds of technological improvements have been made to the classroom experience here at SLU. Are these improvements window dressing to make SLU appear more attractive, or are they proven methods to improve learning?
The e-mail makes it a point discuss the new Chaifetz Arena and the many benefits one will enjoy from it. Athletics and concerts are highlights, and I am sure there is the hope the men’s basketball team will be the centerpiece. Biondi wrote, “It is important for you to remember that Chaifetz Arena was built and will be operated without the use of your tuition dollars. It will pay for itself with the revenues it generates.”
New arenas, million-dollar coaches and “exciting on-campus events that were never possible before” may not cost me my tuition dollars, but they still take cash. If students are strapped paying increased tuition, room and board, and parking fees it is difficult to fork out more for all these exciting campus events. Unless we start making “Sports Center” for things other the 20-point games, I will continue to watch from my living room.
SLU carries a great name nationwide, as evidenced by the magazine articles referenced in Biondi’s e-mail. Many of you realized this when you decided to attend university here. The name SLU carries respect, and the hope is that this will come to benefit students when it is time to have a career. SLU has renovations to the recreation center enjoyed by many and the Chaifetz Arena with a new basketball coach to beam about. Across campus, labs and classrooms are filled with cutting-edge equipment, computers and professors to instruct students. These shiny toys are part of what makes SLU a “best buy,” nationally ranked and a top university according to many magazines.
Improvement costs money, and it takes constant improvements to keep up in an ever-changing global economy. You get what you pay for when you come to SLU, but as responsible consumers, it is up to us to question why, where and how this money is spent.
Lew Griffith is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
