The coronavirus has created unprecedented circumstances in the last few months for individuals and industries across the world. Companies have experienced immense losses in revenue because of economic shutdowns and thousands of Americans have suffered unemployment and financial hardship. Universities are no exception.

As states across the country finally begin to lift lockdowns and attempt to return to normal, universities have issued statements to their students, faculty and staff regarding how the institutions will resume on-campus instruction and address financial difficulties in the fall.

Last month, Syracuse University announced that it will raise the cost of tuition for undergraduate students by 3.9% and will increase costs for housing and meal plans. Asking SU students to pay an increased tuition is unfair at a time when everyone is struggling financially just as much as the university is.

“The tuition increase is unreasonable to ask of students and families, many of which are experiencing financial hardships due to the pandemic,” said Madison Roberts, a rising sophomore at SU. “It is especially unreasonable and unfair since students will not be getting the full in-person learning experience because of social distancing measures and required online learning.”

In the weeks following the university’s announcement, SU community members have banded together to create a petition to suspend the tuition increase.

Many of the petition’s supporters believe a tuition freeze would be the right thing for SU to do. A freeze would mean that students already attending the university would pay the same amount for tuition this coming year as they did during the 2019-20 academic year.

SU in following updates stated that it will hold classes online on certain days, even having some courses moved to nights and weekends. The university also announced it will decrease the amount of students in a classroom by either 50% or to 30 students or less.

Most of the shifts that SU is implementing to comply with social distancing guidelines decrease the college experience and make students feel as if their money is being wasted on a less valuable education. Students worry about what the adjustments will mean for their classes, extracurricular activities and college experience. If the quality of education and college life is decreasing, college costs should not be increasing.

Many students have also lost jobs because of stay-at-home orders. Other students, along with their families, have suffered financially due to parents losing jobs or work hours. Although SU claims it will offer more financial aid in the upcoming school year, students will still feel the financial impacts of more tuition and less money to pay bills.

Other universities, both public and private, have found alternative ways of dealing with their financial problems, some of which have included tuition freezes. Penn State University, Rutgers University and the University of Maryland have all announced tuition freezes for the upcoming school year. These universities recognize that students are facing financial difficulties and that many are unable to afford taking out more loans to cope with additional costs.

Colleges and universities have also cut costs by halting hiring and salary increases for faculty and staff. Although faculty and staff are also struggling during this time, instituting a hiring freeze and maintaining current salaries during the upcoming school year will ensure that university money is not being wasted.

Chancellor Kent Syverud announced in a campus-wide email that SU will institute a hiring freeze for the 2020-21 academic year. This is a good first step in finding alternate ways to recoup the university’s losses without hurting students in the process. This measure, along with others aimed at decreasing university costs, can guarantee that a tuition freeze is feasible.

Hunter Franklin, a rising sophomore at SU, created the petition against the tuition increase. He believes that SU administration is failing its students by charging them more.

“Syracuse University is failing to rise up to the challenges of this national emergency we are facing when they increase the financial burden on families while other universities across the country, both private and public, are freezing tuition and providing discounted rates to families,” he said.

When a university decides to raise the cost of tuition, it’s ignoring the financial realities most Americans are currently facing and is knowingly hurting its students, Franklin said. Students should not have to choose between financial security and a quality education.

Franklin and many other students do not understand why SU administration is taking the easy way out by increasing the cost of attendance instead of finding another solution to help itself and its students.

In tough times like these, universities must do everything possible to help their students and community stay on their feet. Instead of raising tuition, SU should find a way to cut other costs to prevent students from taking out more loans or dropping out of college altogether.

A good college education is SU’s top priority. Syverud and the administration must do everything they can to ensure students are able to afford that education.

Published on June 20, 2020 at 11:17 am