Comprehensive fee increases for 35th consecutive year

By Benjamin Engle

This two-part article was written in response to an email from alum Geoff Pietsch '59. He paid 900 dollars for tuition during his four years at Union and questioned the justification behind consistently rising rates of the college's tuition.

The Union College comprehensive fee will increase in the 2010-2011 fiscal year for the thirty-fifth consecutive year.

Up 3.75% from the current 2009-2010 fiscal year, the comprehensive fee, which includes the cost of tuition, room, board, student activity fee, and Minerva House fee, is scheduled to be $53,329 in 2010-2011. The 3.75% increase is the lowest increase in the comprehensive fee since the 2001-2002 fiscal year.

According to the National Center on Public Policy and Higher Education, college tuition and fees across the country from 1982 to 2007 increased 439% while the median income only rose by 147%. From 1982 to 2007, Union's comprehensive fee increased $17,219, almost a five-fold increase.

While the cost of college is increasing at a greater rate than the rate of inflation, Diane Blake, Vice President for Finance and Administration, believes that college tuition cannot be based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since institutions of higher education have their market baskets of goods are different. Instead, colleges are held to the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI).

According to Commonfund, the group that calculates the HEPI, "HEPI measures the average relative level in the prices of a fixed market basket of goods and services purchased by colleges and universities through current-fund educational and general expenditures." The HEPI is comprised of faculty, administrative, clerical, and service employees' salaries and benefits as well as miscellaneous services, supplies and materials, and utilities.

Meanwhile, the CPI, which is compiled by the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a measure of the average change in prices over time in fixed basket of goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. The CPI is made up of food, clothing, shelter, fuel, and transportation fees, among other services.

According to Blake, Union's comprehensive fee increases yearly despite departmental and administrative cuts since the various costs of labor make up almost half of Union's budget.

"We are a labor-intensive institution," Blake said. "We pride ourselves on our 10:1 faculty ratio. If we didn't maintain that ratio, Union wouldn't be the education you applied for."

Union takes pride in the quality of faculty that it hires. This goal, however, is an expensive one, since most of the faculty hold Ph.Ds or the highest academic certification in their field. Also, Graduate Assistants and Teaching Assistants do not teach classes at Union.

"[Students] come [to Union] because of the small class size, close interaction with professors, and classes taught solely by those with PhDs," Blake said. "We don't want to lay off faculty because we want to maintain our current ratio."

Despite the fact that faculty and staff salaries and benefits make up the greatest percentage of the annual budget, Blake admits that those emoployed by the college are underpaid.

"On average, the faculty [at Union] is not paid as well as those at our peer institutions," Blake said, "but it is part of the Strategic Plan to improve the situation."

The comprehensive fee that students pay continues to increase annually because traditional revenue sources for the college have decreased over the years.

"The full price is not the cost of a Union education," Blake added.

Benjamin Engle's coverage of rising tuition at Union will be continued next week in our 5/13 edition.

Originally published in Union's Concordy on May 6, 2010.