“Another day, another dollar” is an old phrase that most of us have heard many times and in different situations. Never has this been more true than in today’s society concerning higher education.
It is becoming increasingly expensive for a person to gain a college education due to the rising costs of tuition, books, housing, etc. In fact, some folks find it hard to actually afford a higher education with all of these costs.
At ETSU, this idea is just as true. This past summer saw a 14 percent increase in tuition due to a lack of state funding.
This is a phenomenon going on across the nation. State-funded universities are receiving less state funding for various reasons. Perhaps more money is allocated to other programs such as health care. Perhaps there is just less money to go around. Whatever the reason, students are the ones picking up the slack. It is not hard to find a daily newspaper that does not feature a story on the defense of the country, health care, the environment or some other dramatic issue that is just extremely pressing apparently.
Where’s the concern for higher education? Lately, it seems as if people are more concerned with collegiate teams and their performance in various tournaments.
What happens when those players can’t afford to go to school anymore? Is that what it will take to get people upset over the cost of higher education? People demand so much from higher education, yet where is the support towards it? People simply seem to take for granted the fact that getting an education is very expensive in today’s society. While some are able to get scholarships like a Tennessee Hope Scholarship (that is, if you’re a freshman – tough luck for the rest of you), many students are forced to rely on loans and grants.
Yes, it’s always fun to graduate with a degree, no job and thousands of dollars in debt.
To some people, students are seen as products, as one professor once mentioned. We are the products of ETSU and what people will base their opinion of the school on. (Well, that and the fact that we lost a football team but have a kick-butt basketball team.)
What about the theory that students are consumers? Perhaps college is more “market-oriented” as some have suggested. If students are customers, shouldn’t the university be doing its best to see to it that the customer is happy? And, for that matter, isn’t the customer always right?
While the cost of an education at ETSU might not be high compared to some universities, it simply continues to grow. And now, it is not just tuition that is rising. Various programs are instituting fees that students must pay in order to major in a certain field.
Students in the digital media department now pay $100 per credit hour in every digital media course that they take. Business majors pay $20 per credit hour. These added fees really start to add up, especially if a student is only taking major courses, which can be anywhere from 12 hours and up.
Since when should a student have to pay extra to be a business major? Or even a digital media major? What’s next – journalism, biology, political science?
According to administration officials, these fees are necessary to pay for various expenses throughout the respective departments. This is understandable, but isn’t that much of an additional fee a bit excessive? Universities across the nation are getting on this bandwagon. Programs that can be rather expensive can cost the student a higher cost.
What if a program has an exploding job market ahead of it? Perhaps that should be more expensive to the student too. After all, digital media students are going to be in higher demand than say English majors or even journalists. So, perhaps the majors with a potentially larger payoff should start paying now.
What this all boils down to is that a higher education can be a highly limiting process.
First, you have to be able to afford to actually attend an institution of higher education.
Next, the hard part is choosing what to major in. This is supposed to be a decision based on interests, a job market and what can make an individual feel content and happy. Whether or not the program is too expensive would not normally be a consideration.
When certain programs are considerably more expensive than others, the university is basically saying you can only major in the programs you can afford.
If you can’t, well, there’s always English or journalism.

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