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FINANCE - May 2004 by Meredith Lane The Rising Cost of Education In March, the Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition at the University of Kentucky for the upcoming school year. The increases mean most in-state undergraduate students will pay about 15 percent more than they did last year. Undergraduate housing and dining will also increase 10.5 percent. Students in UK’s College of Dentistry will have the biggest increase. Out-of-state dentistry students would pay $7,000 more with tuition totaling about $36,500. In-state annual dentistry tuition would be about $15,500, an increase of more than $3,000. Medical students also face similar increases. Mark Rukavina, a prospective medical student from Lexington says, “If state universities and colleges continue to hike their tuitions, it may cause students to consider private instead of public schools. If I were trying to decide between going to UK or Vanderbilt, I’d choose UK solely based on price, despite the fact that a private school might provide a better education. If UK continues to increase its fees, I would pay a little extra and go to Vanderbilt instead. I’d pick the better school.” UK was the first university in the state to unveil increased tuition. This is the second double-digit increase for UK in two years. The amount of UK’s increase was accentuated by Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s $41 million budget cut to post-secondary education, $16.7 million of which was allocated to UK. Some UK students feel that tuition increases were due to the school’s goal to become a top 20 university by 2020. Andrea Naseman, a UK communications junior from Oldham County, says, “although we anticipated another hike in tuition, this new 15 percent increase is forcing students to get second jobs. This could start a vicious cycle for students who cannot be full-time because they have to pay for what seems to be ever-increasing tuition.” Daniel Johnsen, a University of Louisville senior from Somerset told the Courier-Journal, “On behalf of the students, I ask, `What are we going to get in return”’ for the higher cost? Johnsen said that as tuition has risen, he has watched class sizes increase and U of L not fill its open faculty slots. Kentucky’s college students hope inflation remains low and the economy rebounds during the coming year so future tuitions and fees will not continue their recent double-digit upward spiral.
Meredith Lane is a journalism major at the University of Kentucky. |
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Since the UK rate increases were announced, most of Kentucky’s other public colleges and universities have followed UK’s lead and increased tuitions and fees.