# The Rising Cost of Education



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I'm graduating soon, so this doesn't apply to me but as I am still a student at heart this just infuriates me.

My Uni has been increasing tuition and fees constantly since I enrolled four years ago. At one point, it looked like I couldn't attend because they upped tuition by $100...for a sports arena...

They are constantly pestering me, my family, whatever for money. Donations, what have you. They hold us at threat with "we're gonna cut this program".

I may be one of the last classes that graduate with a philosophy degree from our department, which is on the chopping block.

Oh, and when they did mass-firings due to "cost cutting", the teachers went on strike and a financial administer had to come in from the state -- It didn't look good, because they sent someone whose political policies did NOT favor unions but guess what? He advised the school to back down because he found a HUUUUGE surplus in a hidden budget that the admins were keeping hush hush.

They gave our president a huge raise since she's sooooo awesome (not really), and switched small departments over to mostly part-time or graduate professors, doubling up full-time professor schedules to ensure they had people teaching the higher courses. Busy professors don't have time for students, mind you.

So what's the tipping point? They were pressured into a single-year tuition freeze for the next year, which seemed great...until I got an email this morning. They've raised FEES by $200, which means they can still put out commercials, ads, billboards, whathave you with "TUITION FREEZE", despite the fact that COSTS ARE STILL RISING.

A mediocre, nobody-university with no distinguishing features located in NW Ohio: BGSU - Cost of attendance (in-state), is approx. $12k now. Was around 10k when I enrolled.


----------



## ahrat (Aug 12, 2013)

I technically don't pay anything out of pocket for my tuition since I get financial aid, but what a lot of people don't understand is that I have to pay most of that money back. So I just get to pay later. As a result, I bust my ass working two jobs. Which of course makes it hard to keep grades higher when I have things like paying rent to worry about. It's total crap. US universities need to get it together. I'm going to end up owing 50,000 dollars before interest for some tinnnnyyy 10,00 student college in the suburbs of Philly. Which I probably won't even ever use my degree, yippee!


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I think so far I owe $30k, with half of that collecting interest. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## bloomington bob (Mar 25, 2014)

Yep - it's an outrage the way costs keep going up - and at the same time, costs are saved by cutting back on the number of full time academic hires. It's terrible that someone puts in all the work - and incurs all the expenses - of an advanced degree - and can only get a part time job without benefits... I'm curious - what area of philosophy did you focus on?


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

My degree is just a general one, but my thesis dealt with ethics/metaphysics (agency, the self, and moral responsibility). 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## bloomington bob (Mar 25, 2014)

Sounds great! - I minored in History and Philosophy of Science in my History M.A. program


----------

