Do you ever wonder what happens to your $36,000-plus when your parents (or hard-working students, in some cases) write that check to AU? Well, after listening to President Ladner justify higher tuition recently, students should be even more worried about how their money is spent.
These high costs are partly due to the federal government's efforts to provide financial support to students. What universities wont tell you is that they thrive on this federal money.
For years this has been the dirty little secret of education, but nobody would spill the beans. In a column by Jeff Jacoby in The Boston Globe on Feb. 10, he states that much anecdotal and empirical evidence exists that universities try to get the maximum federal money and then jack up the price of tuition. He states that "Higher Education funds 'are seen by colleges as there for the taking,' in an observation by Professor Peter Wood of Boston University." He also states that empirical evidence supports this claim.
The natural question for an AU student would be, "Does this happen at my school?" Well, why can't the students have the info readily available? Oh, I forgot, it's a private university, can't do that. Parents are sending large sums of their income to AU without thinking twice about if it is well spent. With these circumstances, the privacy of a university's finances is of less importance compared with the fiscal responsibility (or irresponsibility) of a university.
AU has attempted to show its fiscal responsibility recently by making some recent changes. It stopped accepting credit cards as forms of tuition payment because it became too costly for the school. AU also has recently stopped landline phone service in the residence halls for fiscal reasons. AU should be applauded for thinking about ways to save money, because frugality is a great quality. But students should not be fooled by these decisions; the school made these decisions because they are in its best interests, not the students'. Who knows what will happen with the saved money, since AU is so mum about its finances.
If parents had an accurate accounting of the school's financial efficiency, they could make better decisions about where to send their son or daughter, especially when some families have to work very hard just to make ends meet and send their kid to school. AU should release a full and unedited accounts of its finances, and this means every last penny. The school talks the talk about students' interests, but lets see if it can walk the walk.
Ryan Grannan-Doll is a senior in the School of International Service and The Eagle's former assistant editor of national news.
