Brown: Who should pay for college?
The government seems to really care for me if it's trying to force tuition relief on colleges.
By Jesse Brown (Contact)
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Little do I know that as I walk to class, I am just a pawn stuck in the middle of a battlefield. The battle is that of government wanting to stick its paws in the college endowment business and the state higher education officials retaliating by swiping them away.
Not only am I stuck in the middle, but I am torn.
On a normal school day, I get assigned loads of homework by my professors and teachers who expect the best from me, and I have the desire to live up to those expectations.
However, to make a living here in Lawrence, I have to work 25 to 30 hours a week at Mr. Goodcents so that I can pay rent, live at least a little comfortably and try to put a dent in my debt to two credit cards. The only reason I’m in debt is because of book costs and car repairs.
Seeing how my federal Pell Grant amount is decreasing every year, as well as a sufficient amount of loan money, my debt is only going to drastically increase when I graduate. In the little meantime that I get, I like to party at least a little bit.
I think I deserve it.
On Feb. 18, the Lawrence Journal-World published an article about the government’s desire to become more involved in the college endowment business. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) propose that university endowments pay out 5 percent of their assets each year.
How is that for party cooperation?
According to the article, endowments — funds that are donated to support a university — increased by 18 percent in 2007. The article continues to state that tuition has gone up as well as college presidents’ salaries.
In the article, Grassley says, “It’s fair to ask whether a college kid should have to wash dishes in the dining hall to pay his tuition when his college has a billion dollars in the bank.”
While I read all this, it all looks good for a student like me. The government seems to really care for me if it is asking for tuition relief and trying to force the colleges to do so. However, I’m always skeptical about the government. If it wants to help a student like me, why doesn’t it stop decreasing my Federal Pell Grant? It makes me wonder if the government may have ulterior motives.
On Feb. 13, The University Daily Kansan published a similar article with more representation from the KU Endowment Association. In the article, Dale Seuferling, the president of the KU Endowment Association, said “a federal regulation on the management of private endowments and mandating policies on what private donors contribute and they entrust to the Endowment Association, who they expect to carry out their wishes, would be an unprecedented and unnecessary intrusion.”
I couldn’t agree more. I believe the government should keep its hands out of this business. The only reason I believe it wants to is because it sees a potential profit.
This article continues, saying that last fall a rumor was circulating that a new federal bill would force universities that had more than $500 million in their endowments to use 5 percent of those funds each year. If the university refused, the federal government would begin taxing those funds.
While it’s only a rumor, it’s easy to see why the government would want to get involved, which Snoop Dogg can explain is to “make money, money, make money, money!”
Still, tuition has risen in many colleges, including the University of Kansas. In The Kansan’s article, Seuferling said he understood the government’s concern about the rising cost of tuition, but he said each university would be a better judge of how to use its endowed funds. The university may be a better judge for the school, but certainly not for the students.
Seuferling said the association used to spend 5 percent of its funds, but after the past four years, it decreased the amount to 4.6 percent because of the dramatic change in the market. The students are also reacting to this dramatic change in the market. It doesn’t help the common student that he or she has to pay $3 a gallon for gas, work more hours to pay off his or her debts and grow accustomed to a rise in tuition.
It doesn’t help me that when I do graduate from this fine university (and I am proud to be a Jayhawk) that I will venture into my future as a stress-induced freak from all my debt, and I’ll have to live with bad eating habits, resorting to the McDonald’s Dollar Menu, and possibly die from a heart attack before the age of 40.
Brown is a Lee’s Summit, Mo., junior in journalism.
Discussion
All comments are moderated by Kansan.com staff. For our full user policy, click here.
Share your 2¢
Requires free registration.