There is a recent development in higher education that will affect many of our fine students. And their younger siblings. And prospective students in high schools across the state. And hell, maybe even our children and our children’s children.
As many of you esteemed readers know, the great states of Minnesota and Wisconsin have long joined forces in a pact of mutual reciprocity to further their goals of continuing enlightenment of the populace. What this means is that Minnesota students such as yours truly are free to attend Wisconsin’s public universities at in-state, Wisconsin prices, and vice versa. All of which is very generous, and in keeping with a sentiment of brotherhood and sisterhood that I appreciate greatly.
The complicated part of this agreement was that across the board, Minnesota schools have for some time been slightly more expensive than their Wisconsin equivalents. In order to maintain the reciprocity program, the great state of Wisconsin subsidized tuition for its students to make up the difference; a noble gesture.
Wisconsin will contribute $1,396 this year for each of its students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and $2,213 for every young scholar at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. After the upcoming academic year, these subsidies will end.
In a textbook example of the grandfather rule, the entering first-year class will be eligible for reciprocity subsidies for the next five years, but the 2012 freshman class won’t see a dime. For many Wisconsin families, this is cause for concern and will strongly affect the college choices of today’s high school seniors. However, ending reciprocity subsidies will benefit the state of Wisconsin.
More than 10,000 Wisconsin students participate in the reciprocity program, and when you multiply thousands of students by thousands of dollars, you end up spending millions. In the next two years the state expects to save $21 million. This is big money that can be used to improve local public universities, rather than funding education in Minnesota. Additionally, prospective college students in Wisconsin will have an added incentive to attend universities in their home state and further enrich those institutions.
I can understand why the state government decided to stop sending bright students and millions of dollars to Minnesota colleges when it could keep both and focus on its own schools. In the long run, ending subsidies for reciprocity will create a more competitive market for higher education and will limit costs for future students. In-state reciprocity will continue to allow Minnesota and Wisconsin students to attend schools in their neighbor states for relatively affordable resident rates. For all of the negative publicity it is receiving, cutting these subsidies from the state budget makes everybody better off.
Now let’s step back for a moment. I’ve just been discussing thousands and millions of dollars and university education as if it were an ordinary, logical and common-sense issue. Because expensive tuition is the only tuition anyone remembers, and because we are constantly reminded of its cold hard reality and because we have no better options, it is a difficult concept to question. But here goes.
Today, even public universities like our own University of Wisconsin cost around $10,000 per year. The opportunity cost of college is 10,000 Big Macs, or 100 Fender Stratocasters or a BMW. What this means to me is that post-secondary education is not accessible and is straining the bounds of affordability at a time when universal and excellent education is supposedly a national priority.
As a result of outrageous tuition, the debt graduates take on limits their opportunities to pursue their dreams and aspirations. Furthermore, student loans represent banks and other financial institutions betting on college graduates’ ability to pay off their tuition bills in a slowly recovering business world, and this hazardous investment may prove to be the next bursting bubble sending ripples through our economy.
A British university student once asked me if I ever though it was crazy that I lived in the wealthiest country in the world and paid a fortune for college. At the time it had never seemed abnormal to me, but now I find it absurd. I was reminded of this conversation a couple of weeks ago when tuition increases in the UK set off riots in the streets of London.
Now, the last thing I want to see is an angry mob smashing store windows on State Street, and I firmly believe that we the students can find more peaceful and constructive ways of dealing with oppressive tuition bills.
Personally, I think the first step toward affordable education is realizing that knowledge and information are either inexpensive or free. Unnecessary costs, including but not limited to the constant cycle of tearing down and rebuilding our campuses in the effort to make college a state of the art and aesthetically pleasant experience, make education a major investment. By eliminating such excessive spending, it will be possible to reduce tuition to the point where students pay for education alone and graduate with the ability to pursue their own futures.
Charles Godfrey ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in math and physics.
