The rising cost of tuition
I don’t need a Seattle PI article to tell me that tuition costs are increasing. I’m currently enrolled in my last quarter at Bellevue Community College and the prices have increased in the two years that I have been attending. Regardless, community colleges are still a way to save money. Universities still cost 42% more per year to attend.
From the article:
Tuition likely will rise again next fall for thousands of students at community colleges in Washington, meaning the annual cost of attending the two-year schools has jumped by $1,215 in a decade.
The increase for the fall will be small, but with other costs will almost certainly push the cost of attending one quarter to more than $1,000.
Wait a second, how many credits are they accounting for? It currently costs over $1,000 to attend BCC with a full load of 15 credits (let alone the 20 that I am currently taking). I digress:
Earlier in the year, the Legislature gave the colleges a green light on raising tuition just 2 percent for the fall quarter. That means yearly tuition for a full-time student would go from $2,676 to $2,730 — a difference of about $55.
My current History teacher shared a little tidbit with the class during the first week of the quarter: The cost of a full quarter (15 credits) at BCC in the 1960’s was less than $100. Now, the majority of my textbooks cost more than that.
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My first year in college, at Evergreen, it was $333/quarter, full time. This was (I hate to admit) in 1983.
I just made what I hope is my last grad school tuition payment, and let’s just say it was way more than $333. But I guess if I hadn’t taken so much time away from school both during undergrad and before starting grad school I might have actually saved a ton of money! Even my grad school tuition (not at a Washington school has gone up about 25% or so since I started.
Even with inflation, tuition does seem steep everywhere. I would even go so far as to say that compared to a lot of east coast institutions, Washington schools are still a bargain, despite the increases. Google the tuition at a mid tier Boston school like Boston University. Scary.
I’d really love to see a breakdown of the numbers at a major university of where all the new money goes. Medical schools and facilities have to be a big component. But what other departments are getting all these new dollars, and why. That would be very interesting.
@ litlnemo: congrats on being so close to paying off your loans! I’m still at the point where my loan payments are deferred, so I’ve got a ways to go.
@gargamello: I’ve done small research papers for Sociology regarding where the money goes. In the last decade, the majority of schools have needed to upgrade technology, including installing items such as flat panel televisions in student lounges and new styles of overhead projectors in classrooms. Schools are building new gyms with new state-of-the-art equipment, renovating classrooms, and building new wings to accommodate new students. BCC just completed renovating a new wing while I have attended and have started construction on a new administration building. These are just examples. Schools tend to do these things in order to stay competitive. Each student that enrolls is money in their pocket.
at the UW, stuff like televisions for lounges, technology for student use, and gym facilities are typically paid by separate student fees, not tuition.
Oh, thanks for the clarification.