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Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                Matt Dulin     Chris Elliott                        Robyn Morrow                  Johnny Peña
                                      Fabian Sifuentes              Kristen Young

At least ignorance doesn't carry interest 

An annual study of college pricing and financial aid trends released by the College Board on Tuesday affirmed what we already knew, even if we didn't have concrete proof: tuition increases continue to outpace the rate of inflation.

The rate of increases at public four-year universities (like UH) exceeded inflation by 2.4 percent; at private colleges the average was 2 percent, according to the report.

The study did find, however, that the rate of increases has slowed for the third consecutive year. Did you notice?

It also noted that the net price of tuition and fees (that is, after grants and aid are deducted) is less than half of the average total tuition and fees. Where that money is coming from is another matter.

On average, Pell grants dropped by $120 per student, surely a sign of the times when it comes to the federal student aid picture. Reductions in public-sponsored aid inevitably mean an increase in aid from private sources, and that's exactly what the College Board found. The report says private borrowing has reached its highest point yet, accounting for $17.3 billion in aid, or about one fifth of all student aid money. These loans, extended by most banks, usually carry higher interest rates than their public counterparts, like the Federal Stafford Loans. The danger, of course, is that as higher education requires more money from the student, it's going to be harder for those in lower economic levels to pay for an advanced education. That threatens America's fabled class mobility. 

This problem will be felt even more acutely at UH, where the dream of flagship status would seem to bring with it tuition rates -- without enough aid to match it -- that hurt the student who's really struggling to get by.

College Board President Gaston Caperton told the Los Angeles Times that the government needs to play a far greater role in educating its populace, calling for a "national commitment -- on the scale of the Manhattan Project … to double the number of college graduates in a generation."

Now that's a figure we could get behind.