Complaints. Complaints. Complaints.
All students can talk about is the fifth consecutive increase in tuition, but are the complaints justified?
“Sure they are,” junior Adrian Dongell said. “I have now attended SMU for three years and each year it is raised by another 5 percent and I don’t see a difference [in the school].”
Most students agree with Dongell. Yet, a direct comparison of SMU to other private universities shows the school’s tuition, with room and board ($29,896), as being relatively low.
According to Princeton Review, the tuition at Vanderbilt ($33,825), Tulane ($31,174) and Emory ($34,180) is about average for most private schools outside of Texas.
SMU is the most expensive school in Texas. Rice is the next highest with a yearly tuition of $24,030. Cross-town rival TCU costs students $18,730 per year.
In a listing of the number of private school students receiving financial aid, SMU ranks as one of the lowest with 31 percent. Vanderbilt (35 percent), Rice (40 percent) and Emory (38 percent) students receive more financial aid, while students at Tulane and the University of Southern California receive 46 and 50 percent from their schools.
Morgan Olsen, vice president of the business and finance department, said one of the main reasons for the current tuition increase is to raise faculty and staff salaries. Olsen said the goal is to recruit the best faculty and staff – to make that a priority.
Next year’s budget will also include a major investment in the strategic technology initiative, adding money to ensure that the university’s technology is up-to-date with new computers and the latest software.
Accordingly, more money will be spent for academic purposes.
“The central university budget will be increased to maintain, for instance, the library collection at a high level of quality,” Olsen said.
Also, the cost of healthcare will rise next year, as it did by 50 percent last year. That, Olsen said, will “affect us in terms of the healthcare benefits that the university provides to faculty and staff.”
The national economy affects tuition, as well. Since Sept. 11, insurance companies raised rates because of the billions of dollars in claims. Olsen estimated insurance coverage for property, casualty and building damage to increase by about 70 percent next year.
SMU is compared to two institutional groups: the operational group (institutions like SMU) and the benchmark group (finest universities in the country). In comparison to the operational group, SMU rates are about $200 more per year than average, but lower than seven of the 12 institutions in the group.
The price of education at SMU is $5,000 less than the 12 institutions represented in the benchmark group. But Olsen said that in many ways SMU’s goal is to become more like those fine schools.
The reality is that such a project will cost more.
