Administration being sneaky with tuition increase

The administration seems to be trying to pull the wool over students' eyes. In his press release and at a news conference, President Peter Likins announced a proposed tuition increase of $400 (10.01 percent) for resident undergraduates, $500 (3.85 percent) for non-resident undergraduates and $600 (14.12 percent for resident, 4.54 percent for non-resident) for all graduate students.

But the news release goes on to state, "In addition, he is requesting a separate fee of $60 to go toward Information Technology classroom upgrades and wireless access."

This $60 is not counted as part of the tuition increase, making any increase look smaller than it actually is. Likins also failed to mention that, because of the tuition increase, the Arizona Financial Aid Trust fee, which is defined as 1 percent of tuition, will increase an additional $4 per year.

The true tuition increase is $464, making the increase 11.4 percent for resident undergraduates.

If implemented, the technology fee will join the $50 per year Student Recreation Center fee and the currently $39 per year Arizona Financial Aid Trust fee, along with several refundable fees.

The history of fees at the UA shows an ebb and flow. According to the UA's Budget Office, in the 1960s there were several fees, including such fees as library fees, student union fees and parking fees. At the end of the '60s, all the fees had been incorporated into the tuition base for simplicity. Now we appear to be going in the opposite direction.

A new fee and a tuition increase of the same size are different for one primary reason. With a fee, the university is bound to spend the funds for the stated purpose. This occurs through a completely separate account being created.

If the administration merely makes a verbal declaration about where the money will go, there is no separate account and no binding agreement. This was the case with the 2003 tuition increase, when Likins promised that a portion of the increase would go toward advising. So one feature of a fee increase is that students are guaranteed where the money will go.

But here the main feature of the technology fee seems to be to increase tuition more than advertised. And the effect may be more than at first glance because fees affect financial aid differently than regular tuition. For example, merit-based tuition wavers don't cover fees, so a fee raises more revenue for the university than an equally sized tuition increase.

Spending money on information technology may be a worthy goal, but the lack of specifics points to it being merely creative accounting.

Students deserve a honest tuition increase.

Opinions are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Evan Caravelli, Brett Fera, Caitlin Hall, Ryan Johnson and Jesse Lewis.