Page 112 - Crisis in Higher Education

84 • Crisis in Higher Education

• Problem 3. Access decreases: As the costs for books and supplies
increase, access declines.
• Problem 4. Graduation rate decreases: As the costs for books and
supplies increase, graduation rate decreases. Also, students without
good access to textbooks are more likely to fail and drop out.
• Problem 5. Completion time increases: As the costs for books and
supplies increase, completion time increases.
• Problem 6. Job placement: No change.

4.8 HOW THE FUNDING FINESSE—MIXING
FEES AND TUITION (ROOT CAUSE 6)—
AFFECTS THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS
Student fees have been a part of academia for decades, but fees and tuition
should have different purposes. As described in Chapter 2, fees were
intended to cover nonlearning aspects of student life and were often called
student activity fees, whereas tuition covered learning activities. The line
became blurred as universities used fees to mask tuition increases. As this
tactic matured, the purpose of the fees became so broad that funds could
be used for anything. In some cases, new fees were instituted and existing
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fees were increased to finesse state bans or limits on tuition increases.
The following bullet points examine the impact of root cause 6,
“Funding Finesse—Mixing Fees and Tuitions,” on the underlying prob-
lems listed in Table 4.3.

• Problem 1. Cost increases: Regardless of the reason, fees have grown
faster than tuition and much faster than the rate of inflation, leading
to an increase in costs for higher education.
• Problem 2. Quality decreases: As fees increase, students are pressured
to work more, taking time away from studying.
• Problem 3. Access decreases: As fees increase, access declines.
• Problem 4. Graduation rate decreases: As fees increase, graduation rate
decreases.
• Problem 5. Completion time increases: As fees increase, completion
time increases.
• Problem 6. Job placement: No change.