Many Boston University students fear serious financial strain on their families due to annual tuition increase, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Student Curriculum Committee.
The online survey received responses from 879 undergraduate students from March 20 to April 3. The SCC is an undergraduate activist group at BU with the goal of addressing “the concerns of underrepresented interests within BU.”
The study also found that 74 percent of those surveyed were not aware that there would be an annual tuition increase at the time they enrolled at BU, but that nearly all had read the announcement issued by President Robert Brown’s office on March 10 of a 3.4 percent increase in BU tuition and fees.
SCC Chair Konrad Herath, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, wrote in an email that they are also submitting a report next Monday to the administration and the University Council, which will include a more comprehensive analysis of the data, statements from students and suggestions on how to economize as an institution.
“Students are clearly very concerned about the cost of their education,” Herath wrote. “They want to know not only why tuition increases every year, but for what purposes the administration uses their money. I think our peers would genuinely appreciate some transparency.”
Herath wrote that ultimately, the SCC wants to be able to enact administrative change with the help of Student Government and other student groups on campus.
The committee stated that they found a clear concern on the student’s part about the cost of their education as well as the desire to know what warrants the tuition increase from the survey’s results. They cited as particularly surprising the finding that only 6.1 percent of respondents thought that tuition increases benefitted their particular college or program.
Another finding was that only 22.3 percent of those surveyed agreed that a BU education is worth the tuition and fees.
BU spokesperson Colin Riley said BU actively addresses this issue.
“We work very hard to keep annual tuition increase as low as possible,” Riley said. “Boston University has for almost two decades kept the annual tuition increase below the national average for similar schools.”
Riley also emphasized the financial worth of a college education.
“The most important thing is that students are making an investment in themselves,” he said. “By having the opportunity to master their field and receive their degree, every study shows they have significant increase in lifetime earnings.”
As for the concern about where the tuition increase goes, Riley referred to a letter published by President Brown where he stated that costs will continue to rise in order to fund demand in four basic sectors: “(1) increased salary and benefits costs for highly qualified faculty and staff; (2) new and renovated physical facilities … (3) the costs driven by increasingly complex and wide-ranging government regulations; and (4) our continuing commitment to improve academic programs and services for our students.”
Mark Kon, a BU statistics professor, said there could be errors in accuracy in the survey due to who is most likely to respond to it.
“You can’t use this method of self-selection of responses because it will always lead to a bias … On the other hand, if you want this kind of episodic information that gives you the sense of the feeling out there that doesn’t take the quantitative outcome very seriously, it’s certainly a good way to do that,” Kon said. “But if one wants to sort of nail the numbers to the last decimal point, then that’s probably not what they’re doing.”
Several students had mixed reactions to the tuition increase outside of the survey.
Zhengfang Bao, a sophomore in CAS, did not express much concern about the tuition increase.
“I am aware of it, but I’m indifferent about it,” Bao said. “We get emails every year if there’s an increase. BU does a really good job of being clear to the students every time there is an increase.”
Antonio Chidiac, a senior in CAS, lamented the increase while still understanding where BU is coming from.
“It is not great, but logically the inflation plays a role,” Chidiac said. “Realistically, it is something that happens. I’m graduating soon so at the same time, it is not something that affects me anymore.”
Gordon Wallace, a freshman in the College of Engineering, said he’s not sure why BU’s tuition is so high compared to other universities in the nation.
“I think it’s probably the result of unnecessary spending on new facilities when maybe the focus should be more on affordability,” Wallace said. “I think it should be more apparent why the tuition continues to increase.”
