Out of State Tuition Not Fair
With the coming budget deficit this year, everyone is preparing for increased tuition and complaining about higher costs.
After reading the Technique’s reported tuition for in-state and out-of-state ($4,496 and $22,220 respectively), it has become apparent that the majority of students are unaffected by tuition raises.
According to the College Board, the averages of in-state and out-of-state tuitions are $6,185 and $16,640, a ratio of about 2.7 to 1. Tech sports a staggering 4.9 to 1 ratio of tuition. That translates to about 40% of the students paying 75% of the tuition.
The simple solution would be to just “go somewhere else.” Unfortunately for me, the only top-ranked engineering school located in my state (Pennsylvania) is Carnegie-Mellon, a private school with no in-state tuition discounts.
Since I am an ME [major], I am not eligible for academic common market. So why is the only solution for me to get a quality engineering education to pay out the nose for it?
I do not argue that in-state students should pay less, since it is their tax dollars and their parents’ tax dollars funding the Georgia education system. But why such a wide disparity? Other Georgia schools like UGA (ratio of 3.7:1) and Georgia State (4:1) don’t require nonresident students to foot as much of the bill.
To make matters worse, soon I will have had an off-campus permanent residence in Georgia for a year. I will have paid Georgia state taxes for more than a year and could even have my car registered in Georgia, and yet I will not be eligible for in-state tuition [while] a person who lived here for one year before coming to Tech will be eligible for it. Never mind that I have already paid almost five times what they have for three years now, I am simply ineligible for in-state tuition for no reason other than I am a full-time student.
Even budget-wise it doesn’t make sense to keep the tuition gap so wide. If Tech were to increase in-state tuition to the national average, an increase of $1,689, it would result in more than $13.3 million to the school. When faced with a minimum budget deficit of $17 million, that’s nothing to laugh at. Tech should re-examine its tuition rates and considering cutting the out-of-state students a little slack.
Chris Radomile
Fourth-year ME
Cigarette addiction
I am writing in response to the opinion piece on smokers [On-campus smokers prove frustrating,” Sept. 26]. Although I am not a smoker myself, I know several smokers who struggle with quitting. Contrary to popular belief, most smokers are aware of the risks. Do not think that they don’t see the facts. Looking attractive or cool has nothing to do with it [and] after a while, it becomes a serious problem.
What people don’t know about is the nicotine addiction itself; otherwise they would understand that it physically hurts when my friends don’t get their fix. Most non-smokers live under the impression that it’s simply mind over matter, but how does one reconcile this when your mind is the one with the problem?
Have some sympathy, you only have to deal with the smell for a few scant seconds before the smell goes away and you can get back to your fresh air. Second-hand smoke won’t kill you in those brief moments that you pass by them, holding your breath.
Maybe the author should have done more research before [writing] this misinformed editorial.
Patrick Bradshaw
Fourth-year IAML