By Gabriel Perez
Universities in the United States, as a whole, tend to be very, very expensive. Tuition costs across the country are climbing to levels of absolute financial nosebleed.
Bernie Sanders made the prospect of free education in state universities a cornerstone of his presidential campaign, and Hillary Clinton has also promised free tuition in public colleges and universities, if only for families who make $125,000 or less a year.
Sadly, Fairleigh Dickinson University seems to be heading in the opposite direction of what students would like. The school is continuing to increase the already high tuition rates of $36,976, not including room and board.
This issue is also compounded by the fact that the scholarships of current students will not increase along with the rising tuition, which means that attending FDU is about to get a lot more complicated for many.
All of this doom and gloom simply makes the prospect of a college education seem like more of a business transaction than it already is. The reality is that instead of looking at whether a university can help students grow as an intellectual and someone who is able to think critically first, most are forced to look at the costs of a university first.
At FDU the financial aid is fairly generous compared to quite a few universities in the area. However, the main point is that the life of a student should not be factoring panic and the genuinely terrifying prospect that is student debt, which is a reality for many students even with large scholarships.
Universities are meant to foster the mind and the person carrying said mind first beyond anything else. Students are meant to share ideas, push themselves to become better people and to eventually impact the world in a positive way, not only because the university was able to provide the raw materials for doing so but also because the student feels confident in his or her own ability.
However, in the midst of all of this, there is an opportunity to be had here by FDU in order to become a bit of a pioneer amongst its own peers. If this little article does not end up changing the course of tuition prices, then maybe it can be remembered for this idea: If the university is going to raise their tuition rates, it would be only fair to ask the university board their reasoning behind this, as well as why students’ scholarships remain the same.
