Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s (IUP)recent decision to replace flat-rate tuition with a per-credit system is a worrisome decision.
Students taking 15 credits will pay $565 more per semester. Currently, students who take between 12 and 18 credits pay the same rate.
IUP’s president, Michael Driscoll, says it will provide fairer pricing for a university facing a $15 million funding shortfall.
What schools in the PASSHE system refuse to acknowledge is the big picture. There’s constant whining about receiving less funding from the state, which is an admittedly steady decline.
However, even with extra funding that isn’t going to combat the population decline throughout western Pennsylvania.
There will be no resurgence in the Rust Belt.
But everyone loves ribbon cuttings, so fancy and unnecessary dorms and facilities are built. Housing shouldn’t cost more than tuition. Sure, sharing a bathroom and showers with strangers isn’t always fun. But it was more affordable and mostly everyone survived intact.
The new dorms are nice, but don’t encourage people being social and inflict more cumbersome debt.
The only reason I went to SRU is because the degree was affordable. I could work through school and exit without a lot of debt.
Once these schools no longer represent a cheap alternative to private schools, what advantage do they really have?
Josh Rizzo
2010 Slippery Rock University graduate
