ASUI President Hannah Davis said she doesn’t mind paying a little more for her education at the University of Idaho if it means the school can maintain the level of quality education she has come to expect. But for undergraduate students entering their fifth or sixth year, in-state tuition and fees have gone up more than $1,500.
Illustration by Kaitlin Krasselt | Argonaut
University of Idaho Director of Planning and Budget Keith Ickes said this trend is due to a shift in the funds that make up the university’s budget — in 2001, 71 percent of UI’s budget was state funding, which allowed tuition to remain low. State General Account funding is now less than half of the university’s operating budget at every public university in Idaho. At UI, state funding makes up 49 percent of the budget while revenue generated from student tuition and fees makes up 47 percent.
“We’re right at the teetering point. If we had one more bad year in state funding we could see that flip,” Ickes said.
Earlier this month, the Idaho State Board of Education approved another 5 percent increase for UI undergraduate tuition and fees — but UI is not the only Idaho institution to receive an increase.
Boise State University’s tuition will raise 6.9 percent and Idaho State University, 4.5 percent.
Students attending UI for the 2013-2014 academic year will pay 80 percent more than students who attended in 2004-2005.
Newly elected SBOE president Don Soltman said the board approves tuition increases with the students’ pockets in mind, which is why UI and BSU received lower increases than what they had asked for.
“We are cognizant of the cost to students and we want to keep Idaho’s institutions affordable,” Soltman said. “At the same time we understand that times are hard for higher education and our universities are looking for ways to fill the gaps.”
Across the border, Washington faces similar budget deficits in public higher education. Undergraduate tuition and fees at Washington State University have increased 75 percent in the last four years.
Chris Rosenbaum, BSU director of budget and planning, said a lack of state funding is a problem across the board and substantial tuition increases have plagued universities everywhere.
“When state funding is reduced and student enrollments grow, the need to hire additional faculty and provide funding for infrastructure to support students needs unfortunately falls largely on the students in the form of increased tuition and fees,” Rosenbaum said.
In Idaho, the State Board of Education is responsible for equally considering the needs of every higher education institution. As a result, state funding for education is designated by the Idaho legislature and then dispersed by the SBOE among Idaho’s institutions as they see fit.
“We take every university’s needs into consideration,” Soltman said.
Although the system for higher education in Washington is different — a designated board of regents or board of trustees for every university that has only that university’s needs in mind — they have experienced the same budgetary transition from a predominantly state funded budget to a budget that relies heavily on student dollars.
In a message to students, WSU president Elson Floyd said WSU has reached a point where the university receives more support from tuition and other sources than it does from state funding. As a result, Floyd has proposed a new approach to raising tuition at WSU.
“I will be proposing a new approach to tuition to state legislators this session that is very simple,” Floyd wrote. “If WSU’s state appropriation remains uncut or increases, we will raise tuition only by the same percentage as the Consumer Price Index. On average, that is about 2 or 2.5 percent — much more manageable than 16 percent.”
Floyd said the plan is one that is popular with WSU students who are gathering signatures on petitions of support for the proposal. He said access to affordable and high quality education at all levels is a fundamental core value of the state and the nation.
“It is critical to the economic vitality of individuals, the State of Washington and the United States,” Floyd wrote in his message to students.
Floyd is not alone in his consideration of the cost to students and maintaining affordability.
“Boise State, like our Idaho sister institutions, is sensitive to access issues for students,” Rosenbaum said. “This includes affordability as well as course availability to take classes when needed — thus minimizing not only the time to graduate, but the overall cost to students by not needing to pay for another semester or more.”
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]