New tuition option is a small move in the right direction
There may be no shiny roulette tables and the dealers may talk more about bioethics than full houses, but for many students, attending college is nothing less than a gamble.
It's an unfortunate reality, but many students enter college not knowing what they'll end up having to pay or borrow to meet the demands of ever-increasing tuition.
For proof of how finances can impact a student's longevity at ASU, one need only look at the University's retention rate, which reports that a little more than 20 percent of freshmen don't make it back for round two.
While the number may seem high, it has actually been steadily decreasing over the past few years, likely due, in part, to a focus on retention. Recently, President Michael Crow has also proposed a new tuition plan that could help balance the uncertainty of students' budgets.
The plan, if approved by the Board of Regents, would allow students to opt for a tuition program with a fixed rate for a four-year educational career.
The students would pay more than the current tuition rate, with the promise that future hikes wouldn't affect them.
A little confusing, we know, and it gets even worse when factoring in credit hours and campuses. It all works on a sliding scale.
Math not being our strong suit, we tried to break down the potential savings with some quick and dirty calculations, based on the completely unfounded expectation that tuition would rise steadily by 7 percent each year for the next four years.
Based on our numbers, a student beginning next year at the Tempe campus with the base tuition of $4,912 and no tuition plan would spend about $22,000 total. That same freshman on the money-saving plan with a consistent tuition of $5,635 would pay about $22,500.
Essentially, students would pay about $500 more for dependability. Again, this assumes that tuition would only increase by 7 percent each year.
Still, even if students don't make money on the gamble, it's a sound financial idea. After all, knowing how much tuition will cost in advance allows for students to have one less uncertainty.
Additionally, while fixed tuition might raise the price in the short term, the cost is negligible when compared to the enormous advantage the average college graduate has compared to everyone else in the job market.
Ideally, fixed tuition would offer a security everyone should be able to enjoy. For now, it offers some peace of mind that seems well worth a bigger price tag.
