CU & CSU should not increase tuition

The cost of a four-year degree at a Colorado state school is now astronomical. Both the University of Colorado and Colorado State University estimate the cost of tuition, student fees, housing and books is about $30,000 for the academic year. A Colorado student who gets out with a degree in four years will have spent a staggering $120,000.

Tuition should have been increasing on par with inflation. However, The Denver Post’s Elizabeth Hernandez reported that between 2011 and 2021, tuition at fouryear colleges in Colorado has climbed about 36% adjusted for inflation.

Hernandez also reported last week that student loans are so crushing, people are now turning to an algorithm to figure out how much they should pay before reverting to minimum payment plans based on income. A physical therapist with a doctorate from CU Anschutz Medical Campus told Hernandez she owes more than $100,000, pays $500 a month based on her income, and isn’t making a dent in the growing debt.

Colorado can do better, and stop the out-of-control tuition growth. Going forward, we believe a paradigm shift is needed with higher education that focuses on economy, value and efficiency.

The boards that run both CU and CSU should have rejected tuition increases for the 2022-2023 school years when they voted this spring and demanded that the expected shortfall be filled via budget cuts, foregone raises, and non-essential positions going unfilled. Two out of six CU regents opposed the tuition increases.

If tuition is going up at the University of Colorado by 3% then faculty should not be getting a 3% raise, morale be damned.

Times are tight in higher education, and the harsh reality is that folks don’t get raises. Hernandez reported last week that the Board of Regents that governs the $5.2 billion budget for four campuses is stressing about a forecasted $117.4 million budget shortfall in 2025. The proposed solution elected regents are considering is to increase tuition rates, again, only this time for students studying biology and chemistry and other expensive-to-administer and high-earning-potential science degrees. Already degrees in engineering and business are more expensive than other arts and science degrees.

The forecasted shortfall and the proposed solutions don’t send a signal to us that it is time to dole out raises.

We understand that non-faculty employees are tied to the state, and the university is required to provide them with the 3% raise that was included in lawmakers’ most recent budget. But mandated raises for some employees do not mean faculty should automatically get a raise at the expense of students.

Both universities have done a good job of keeping tuition from increasing in recent years. CSU’S tuition hasn’t increased for three years and CU’S for four. Additionally, students at CU have their tuition locked into place during their freshmen years, so the cost won’t increase for four years. We cannot praise both universities enough for their decisions recently to protect students from increases, and we realize the pandemic was crushing.

But Metropolitan State University is taking the right approach. The university, already one of the most affordable 4-year programs in the state, has pledged not to have a tuition increase. MSU is waiting to see how enrollment and revenue land next year before promising faculty raises.

That’s the right approach.