University of New Mexico Needs to Take a Hike, Essay Example

There are always political reasons for a college not to impose tuition hikes on its students.  Yet failing to raise rates is merely forestalling the inevitable. Opponents of  increases claim that they hurt students by making college more expensive. That it true — to a certain extent. However, that is only one side of the question. The other side is how students will be hurt if the UNM cannot afford to hire and keep the best faculty and staff that it needs.

College is already a very expensive proposition for most students. But raising tuition rates a few percentage points will not be decisive for a majority of both new and continuing students. For example, most needing jobs already have them. Instead, it will make a marginal difference. That margin will be felt, but its absence will be felt even more — by future students. Those future students will not have as high a quality education that the present student-body has access to. That is because the effects of marginal differences take time to be felt. The effect of a marginally lower-paid faculty will quietly multiply over the years, like inflation.

Unfortunately or not, public colleges are political institutions, and that means the regents must, to a certain extent, think like politicians. Politicians know that the future often has no constituency to guard it. The future gets looted and discounted because everyone wants what they want now, in the present. So providing the basis for a quality education tomorrow is sacrificed for providing for a happier student body — and their parents — today. Such practices may be understandable, but they are counterproductive. Tomorrow must be paid for today.