[Vision2020] Re: Costs of Attendance

[Shawn Clabough]

Tuition did not pay for those flat-screen monitors in the computer labs
- the computer lab fee did.  And the fee and what is purchased with it
is decided by a student-run committee. See
http://www.support.uidaho.edu/display.asp?/content/labs/

Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Sara Anderson
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 10:00 AM
To: vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Re: Costs of Attendance

Rob,

I agree with your assessment of UI whining in some respects, and in
others I do not.  There are some significant differences between the
dollars going into WSU and the dollars going into UI.  Think tax base,
think number of students attending, think relative affluence of student
population, think size of campus and number of faculty.  However, I
really hate to hear the old line that charging these "student fees" is
unconstitutional in this state.  I don't hate to hear it because it's
not true - it is - I hate to hear it because it's ridiculous, and the
constitution obviously needs to be amended.  Idaho is a poor state and
cannot (let's not even touch will not) pay for the higher education of
all its in-state students.  (I am one of those, by the way.)

UI gives a fantastic deal for what you pay, and even though I've seen a
gigantic increase (percentage-wise) in my tuition since I started school
in fall 2000, I still don't feel like I can complain that I'm being
fleeced, or that the state ought to be footing the bill.

What I can complain about, and what I think the majority of the
complaints are about, is financial mismanagement without the input of
the University community.  I would complain a bit less if I knew I had
any control over the use of my tuition dollars and tax dollars.  But
when my tuition is going to buy flat screen monitors in all the computer
labs, or an assistant football coach that gets paid more than a history
professor, I start to get edgy.  

I may get quite a bang for my buck, as Tom said, but I see things
deteriorating quickly, especially for those in the Humanities.  It put
fear into my heart to hear University officials desiring to model the UI
after ITT Tech.  

I find myself glad I'm graduating in May, so I don't have to watch my
dollar's former bang become a whimper.