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American college tuition inflation has been out of control for the past decade. During the financial crisis of late-2008/early-2009, almost all goods and services in America at least temporarily declined in price. The only service in America that continued to rise in price throughout the financial crisis, besides health care, was college education. Despite real unemployment in America reaching 22%, students were brainwashed into believing that if they were lucky enough to be blessed with the privilege to get half a million dollars into debt to obtain a college degree, they will be on a path to riches and have a guaranteed successful career; whereas those who don't attend college are destined to be failures in life.
The current college education bubble is one of the largest bubbles in U.S. history. The college bubble has been fueled by the U.S. government's willingness to give out cheap and easy student loans to anybody who applied for them, regardless of if they will ever have the ability to pay the loans back. Student loan debt in America is now larger than credit card debt, but unlike credit card debt, student loan debt can't be discharged in bankruptcy.
During the 1970s, college students were able to afford their own college tuition without getting into any debt, simply by working a part-time job year round or by working a full-time job during the summer. Not only that, but most college students were also able to afford their own car and a small apartment. However, since 1970, Americans have experienced a 50% decline in their standard of living due to the Federal Reserve's dangerous and destructive monetary policies. You never heard of parents setting up college savings accounts for their children 40 years ago, but thanks to the Federal Reserve, this has become the norm.
I don't think, I know. The kids from the lower end of spectrum are the ones who fair better in the current job market. They have to work to survive. They just can't run home back to the nest back under the wing of their parents.
I still don't understand why you think EOP kids are going to school for free. They will have loans to pay back upon graduation.
I've watched SBU transform over the past 30ish years. It spent way to much on beautification and not enough where the money was really needed. Just ask someone who actually remembers what the bridge to nowhere was.
Tuition is only one part. By itself it is extremely low at $5000. But the other expenses of living on campus are extremely expensive compared to the real world. Lets take a 6 bed suite on campus (Tabler/Roth). SB gets $6800 per year per student for the approx 9 months that they are there. Thats $40800 that they get for one furnished apartment with utilites included. So SB takes in over $4500 per month in rent per apartment. Thats excessive rent. The meal plan at about $17 per day depends on your point of view go either way. The fees are excessive compared to years ago when it was just one at a reasonable rate compared to $1900 now.
As to labs. Thats a SBU logistics problem. In the real world it would be called bad management that requires reorganization.
I cite Stony Brook as it is my former campus and my son's school. Some of us go back further than the bridge to nowhere and the rat and the mud and the huge cockroaches in old bio.
Agreed that the beautification is partially mismanagement; on the other hand it is to keep the school appealing to prospective students. We read about curb appeal when selling a house and this is an extension of that. What would the impact be on tuition if fewer student opted for SUNY?
Going back to the SUNY-wide increase. You and I can dissect SBU but that still leaves how many other campuses for us to look in at? One issue brought up is the cost of housing. If a person is on a limited budget, they can look into schools closer to home, rather than board far away. Why roll housing costs into a student loan if there is another institution close by or within a reasonable commute. Plenty of kids use the SB LIRR and buses run onto campus for those without cars.
Mikeykid's post highlights the tuition bubble. How many people rolled housing into student loans? How many people attended colleges which were very expensive because they could take out a loan? How many homeowners bought what they couldn't afford because they could get a mortgage? Housing is an option, not a necessity. Let's not mix that in with tuition. Tuition increases are the subject of the thread, not housing.
SUNY campuses had to be updated to attract students. We toured Oswego where the chem and bio buildings were about 50 years old, lacked adequate space and had extremely dated labs. This year one building was to be leveled and a new one built. The other building to be leveled once the first completed and then rebuilt and joined to the other. It will be a huge improvement once completed, but many science students weren't considering it because of the inferior facilities.
Just like Stony Brook, Oswego had sunk a lot of money into dorms ( the freshman dorm is like an Adirondack Lodge and has a deck out onto Lake Ontario) and a spectacular student center with an ice rink for hockey. UNH was guilty of many improvements which catered to a cushy environment, too.
Many schools spent moneynhand over fist when times were good -- not unlike many people out there. Costs continue to rise, programs cut. How many more sections can be cut? SUNYs are experiencing record enrollments -- while making more cuts. It's a losing proposition. If we keep tuition stable and continue to cut programs, the schools will be limited as to how many students they can accept. Tuition has to increase, but minimally. None of us like it.
How about increasing tuition for out of state students instead? Right now, SUNY tuition is ridiculously low for out of state students. At least the families of in state students help subsidize SUNY through their state taxes, but out of state students don't make any such contribution.
As a parent of a child getting ready to commute from Levittown to SB because we cannot afford the room and board (and get zero financial aid), I hope they don't go up too much. DH is a city cop and I work retail. We pay the highest utilites and property taxes of pretty much anywhere and yet we need two incomes to struggle to get by. And for those taxes, I get no basement, no attic, almost no closets and a beagle that howls outside my window all day and night .
. A good number Stony Brook undergraduate students supported the $620 tuition increase two years ago. Currently all SUNY students enjoy tuition under $5,000.
My daughter's freshman SB bill for Fall semester as of now, according to the Bursar last week, is $3189, not including room or board and subject to increase and they have not yet set the fees, etc for the coming school year. Tuition, in and of itself, may be under $5K but all fees except the health insurance (if you have your own), are mandatory so IMO that's part of tuition no matter what they call it. That also doesn't include the $150 Orientation fee, which is a separate charge that we've already paid.
As a parent of a child getting ready to commute from Levittown to SB because we cannot afford the room and board (and get zero financial aid), I hope they don't go up too much. DH is a city cop and I work retail. We pay the highest utilites and property taxes of pretty much anywhere and yet we need two incomes to struggle to get by. And for those taxes, I get no basement, no attic, almost no closets and a beagle that howls outside my window all day and night .
Sorry about your situation - the state university system fails to tell folks - financial aid equals shackles of debt. In other words, most forms of financial aid are in the form of loans that follow you everywhere in life - lovely, right?
My daughter's freshman SB bill for Fall semester as of now, according to the Bursar last week, is $3189, not including room or board and subject to increase and they have not yet set the fees, etc for the coming school year. Tuition, in and of itself, may be under $5K but all fees except the health insurance (if you have your own), are mandatory so IMO that's part of tuition no matter what they call it. That also doesn't include the $150 Orientation fee, which is a separate charge that we've already paid.
Yes, your tuition PLUS activity fees, transportation fees, athletic fee, infirmary, technology fee, etc. equal that bill. It stinks, but the students do use the buses, the infirmary and have access to a lot of great gym equipment and programs. There's access to the computer centers, and if memory serves, students can print off something like 40 pages a day. As a commuter who will have down time, suggest to your daughter she take full advantage of them.
(My son is wrapping up his freshman year and like you, I know the bills. No tap, no fed aid for us, either. I share your pain.)
To give people an idea of the cost: summer school is $207 per credit. My son's lab (the one he was shut out of) is one credit. With above mentioned fees tacked on it will cost $349. It's frustrating to be paying for summer school to make up courses which were closed for budgetary reasons -- especially when the institution promotes using summer sessions to get ahead.
The proposed increase is for tuition only; the other sundry fees should not be impacted.
Logansam54 please feel free to dm me if you have any questions about campus. Best of luck to your daughter!
As a parent of a child getting ready to commute from Levittown to SB because we cannot afford the room and board (and get zero financial aid), I hope they don't go up too much. DH is a city cop and I work retail. We pay the highest utilites and property taxes of pretty much anywhere and yet we need two incomes to struggle to get by. And for those taxes, I get no basement, no attic, almost no closets and a beagle that howls outside my window all day and night .
Has your daughter applied for any scholarships through the NYPD fraternal organizations or PBA? My dad's ret. NYPD so my son applied for national and local 10-13 club scholarships. He received small awards which paid for books this year.
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