Editorial: Involve students in tuition talks

Looks like it’s time to sell those baseball cards — this year, Pitt students could have to… Looks like it’s time to sell those baseball cards — this year, Pitt students could have to pay as much as $1,400 more in tuition than last year.

Well, that’s if Pitt’s Board of Trustees follows the lead of Temple University, which announced a 10 percent tuition hike last week for in-state students after Pennsylvania lawmakers cut Temple’s 2011 appropriation. With many evident parallels between Temple’s situation and Pitt’s — the two universities have similar size, state-related status and appropriation reductions — a tuition increase for Arts & Sciences in-state students at Pitt on the order of 10 percent, or $1,400, seems like a very real possibility.

Whatever number comes out of Friday’s meeting of the Board of Trustees — which, by the way, isn’t leaking any hints — the tuition increase will likely make Pitt’s classes more difficult to afford for many Pitt students, though enrollment will likely be unaffected. Decisions that impact the accessibility of higher education for thousands of people — like the decision the Board will announce Friday — should be seen as just as universally important and relevant as decisions that change programs.

In that frame, it’s our belief that significant, faster-than-inflation tuition increases should only result after extensive public contest. At least in terms of educating students about its thought process and appealing for student input, the University has fallen short. That’s not to say, however, the hole cannot be filled in these waning days.

It’s a question of Pitt’s priorities.

Last week, our editorial petitioned the University to release the parts of its budget that would allow us to connect the $24 million appropriation cut to a tuition increase; but alas, we’re still powerless to judge the impending increase, as Pitt continues to keep its budget on lockdown. In a related point, there appears to be no effort on our administrators’ parts to engage the student community in a discussion about why tuition deserves its current figure and how exactly appropriation cuts must lead to tuition hikes.

Always hungry for graduates who go on to elevate the school’s reputation — and fatten its donation pool — Pitt should visibly care about the financial solvency of its students. Avoiding mountains of debt enables graduates to more easily spread their wings in the job market and take the risks that innovation requires. Pitt should show students that it recognizes the significant effects increasing tuition for all (and debt burden for many) can have on our post-graduation flexibility. How? By actively involving students in the decision-making process, or at least by educating students about why a Pitt degree will demand a bigger sacrifice next year than it did last year.

When the University developed the Outside the Classroom Curriculum and selected the provost and the Honors College dean, we saw a Pitt that genuinely cared about student input (remember the surveys, discussion sessions and comment sheets). Pitt’s administrators shouldn’t treat tuition decisions any differently.