COLUMN: Administrators need to enact tuition freezes


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“Money, money, money / must be funny / in a rich man’s world,” the popular Swedish pop group ABBA declared in their hit single, “Money, Money, Money.” ABBA may remind you of embarrassing nights of impromptu karaoke with your parents, but their song still resonates today, when the income gap is ever-widening and the cost of education is becoming even more exorbitant.

Led by President Rini Sampath, Undergraduate Student Government recently shed light on the increases in school tuition over the years. This year alone, tuition has risen over $2,000 from the 2014-15 school year. Over the past four years, tuition has increased 11.6 percent, while cumulative inflation has only been 3.9 percent. What’s the result? The Class of 2016 is paying roughly $6,000 more per year than they paid when they first stepped foot on campus as freshmen. Tuition has increased dramatically — and with no real explanation. While costs have reached double digit increases, USC has been undergoing an ambitious — and successful — $6 billion fundraising campaign, spearheaded by President C. L. Max Nikias. The University’s campaign has been a smashing hit, but it raises the question: Where are all those dollars going?

It’s time we have an honest, substantive conversation about what students are paying for in a college education. Yearly tuition increases aren’t even the whole picture. Add on room and board, books and supplies, personal items, transportation and other mandatory fees associated with college, and the cost of attendance for a school like USC can probably be the down payment on a home. While some students can pay the full price or others have scholarship opportunities and financial aid, it largely affects those stuck in the middle. Financial aid doesn’t cover costs, and scholarships can only offer so much. With tuition increases year after year, the effect is magnified. Students struggle to come up with payments for school and are left saddled with debt or resort to leaving school and continuing their education elsewhere. Worse, some just drop out of school entirely.

Across the country, public and private school tuitions are increasing, but here at USC, the aggregate cost looks more and more like a life insurance policy rather than tuition. The cost to learn shouldn’t be so steep that students are forced to drop out and work underpaid jobs. Tuition hikes have taken a toll, and it’s time we address it head on.

As USC aims to become more of an elite university, it may look to the Ivy League approach of education, in which some universities allow families who make less than $65,000 per year to make no contribution to the cost of education. If education is the key to a successful career and life, then a fiscal barrier should not exist. The onus should rest on the shoulders of universities to make college affordable and help students succeed — and that all starts with paying to attend college.

USG has done its part. It has expressed its concerns about tuition hikes and costs of attendance for students and how financial hardships affect them in the classroom or cause them to leave the classroom altogether. Fundamentally, students are suffering when concerning what comes out of their pockets and those of their families to pay for school. With this $6 billion fundraising campaign, USC is on par with the upper echelon of universities, such as Harvard, and its fundraising efforts. But, if USC truly wants to reach the status of a bastion of intellectual thought, it should consider something as bold as free tuition for students whose familes make less than $65,000 per year or at the very least, consider a tuition freeze for the next five years. Admission rates have declined year after year. With top-talent students receiving offers from across the country to attend prestigious and elite universities, decisions often come down to one thing — money.

ABBA was right. Money is tough to come by, but in a rich man’s world, it must be funny.

Athanasius Georgy is a junior majoring in economics. His column, “Campus Talk,” runs  Thursdays.