Pitt announced last week that tuition would be hiked a whopping 9.5 percent, just in time… Pitt announced last week that tuition would be hiked a whopping 9.5 percent, just in time for fall classes. This is considerably less than last year’s convenient 14 percent hike – convenient because it neatly matched Chancellor Mark Nordenberg’s 14 percent pay raise – but it’s still a bitter pill to swallow.

The increase was not unexpected, nor could it really be called unreasonable. The economy – in the city, the state and the nation – is in the toilet. State appropriations have gone down because federal funding has gone down, and someone has to pick up the slack.

The administration wants to placate us with the line that Pitt is a quality institution, which it is. The improvements they point to, though, are cosmetic at best, and completely unsubstantiated at worst.

We’ve got an abundance of new signs and seals, and a lovely new academic building at Sennott Square, not to mention the palatial Petersen Events Center. These are pleasant improvements, but they don’t do much for graduates’ resumes.

The administration also cites smaller class sizes and better advising. Without numbers to back up the claim of smaller class sizes, the statement rings hollow to anyone who’s had to cram into the back of a crowded lecture hall. “Better advising” sounds great, but how can such a statement be proved?

College is an investment. Like all investments, the startup can be difficult, involving financial hardship and academic tenacity – as it should. But if Pitt wants to continually sell the idea that sinking cash into the University is a good investment, it should show sound returns.

The current climate of consistent tuition hikes without quantifiable benefits in line with those hikes is going to have debilitating effects on the region for decades to come.

A graduate with a bachelors’ degree – seen by many as the new high school diploma, needed for the most basic of positions – is not guaranteed a job or a place in grad school. The only thing she can count on is debt.

Then, some chipper kid from TeleFund calls our grad ten years later asking for a donation. Our grad is quite possibly still paying, in the form of loan repayments, for her time at Pitt. It’s doubtful she will be in a position to contribute, which will just perpetuate Pitt’s cash shortage.

No one’s asking for the Tuition Fairy to come along and make it so everyone who’s smart enough can go to college. Sadly, everyone put that idealistic dream to bed a while ago. What would be nice, though, is a solid return on our investment.