Research Blog #8: Interview

For my interview I decided to interview someone who is experiences the problems of non-resident tuition. I interviewed Ashley Yehoda, a dance major from Pennsylvania. I found it interesting that for the most part we agreed with the ideas of how tuition is being distributed. However there were some ways that we did not agree. I feel that in those moments that we did not agree was because she was non informed of the research that I was informed of. 

Questions:

Do you feel that charging out-of-state students higher education necessary?

Would you say that out-of-state tuition hinders student from getting the kind of education that they truly desire?

Do you think that it is fair for public universities to consider themselves state institutions when a good amount of students are not from the state?

Would you think that it is fair to have equal tuition for both in-state and out-of-state students?

Answers:
1. I don't think higher tuition should be necessary for out of state students. We are receiving the same education as the in state students and we shouldn't have to essentially make up the difference of state taxes for a state we don't even live in.

2. It doesn't hinder the education we receive but it definitely discourages out of state people from wanting to come here.

3. If the university is at least partially funded by state taxes it can be considered a state university. At the same time though, if most of the university is attended by out of state students, it's unfair for there to be a difference in tuition.

4. Most definitely

Research Blog #9: Argument and Counter-Argument

The argument that I am proposing in my paper is that universities are being unfair to non resident students with what they are charging them for tuition. They expect these students to even out the funding that they do not have for the university just because they are not a resident of the state. They feel that residents should not suffer from the high charges of tuition because they pay the taxes that are funding the university. It would be unfair to charge the students double with taxes and tuition. “‘State universities were built with public and tax dollars — and for Mexicans, Asian-Americans and all the others [in state] — not to give them a priority, I think it’s outrageous,’ said Mitchem, whose organization seeks to expand college opportunities for the disadvantaged” These schools were built mainly for these residents to attend and it is only right to give non-residents higher tuition rates for attending the university. However this argument is outrageous. The tax dollars that the residents pay generally only help twenty percent of universities' funding. There is no way that that amount of money in tax dollars can equal up to the non-resident fees that students pay yearly. “State appropriations and aid account for less than 20 percent of Carolina’s $2.4 billion operating budget.” There is no way that it could be fair that you are serving the students of the state because they have earned the privilege when really they have done nothing.

Research Blog #7: Your Case

The case that I really want to make in my research paper is that tuition for residents and non-residents should be equal. Universities are charging non-residents such high rates to continue funding a school which I find to be unfair. The use of tuition is no longer about helping the school, but has become a political scheme. Universities are very concerned about having the right amount of funding to their school thrive. The quickest and easiest way universities felt they could solve the problem with funding was having non-residents pay a great amount of tuition to even the funding that is needed. Below I will show quotes, videos, and graphs that prove the case the I am making.

“state appropriations and aid account for less than 20 percent of Carolina’s $2.4 billion operating budget.”

“enrollment growth across the UNC system was fully funded, the legislature allocated $60 million for building repair and renovations, and legislatively mandated tuition hikes for out-of-state students were confined to undergraduates.”

“Over the past 30 years, SUNY has charged nonresident students an average of 2.4 times more than resident students”

“with public universities getting less of their funding from the states, it’s hard to argue that their priority should be state residents, according to Dr. Carlos Santiago, chief executive officer of the Hispanic College Fund”

“When schools shift to favor out-of-state students, says Nassirian, it drives the price of education up and makes it difficult for Hispanics, and minorities in general, to gain access to higher education.”

http://www.wbrz.com/videos/southern-drops-out-of-state-tuition/ 

Literature Review #5

Citation:
Baoyan, Cheng. "College Choices: The Economics Of Where To Go, When To Go, And How To Pay For It." 76.1 (n.d.): 110-120. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Summary:
The chapter that was most appealing to my work was chapter 7. This chapter is about the reason why universities charge so much for non-resident tuition. It also gave ways that universities could find funding that would help them continue to thrive as they should without having to be unfair to students. This book also gives ideas for students to have financial needs and grants to help them thrive in their college career without dealing with a lot of debt. 

Author:
Caroline M. Hoxby

Key Terms:
flagships, enrollment, grant aid, and revenue

Quotes:
"Legislators and their constituents may also prefer not to fund institutions directly because they may worry that the dollars will not go to the intended uses"

"Time will tell if [public higher education] will increasingly turn to out-of-state students' tuition revenues to fill the holes in their budgets."

Value:
This book gives great data to help understand the idea of tuition payments, enrollment, and the growth of tuition as well.

Research Blog 6: Visual

This graph is a demonstration of how tuition has become very unfair for non-resident students. This graph is a representation of the University of Washington's change in tuition. There is a clear tuition increase for non-resident student in just over 4 years, while tuition stays constant for residents. This graph shows how the increases of tuition have been really unfair. Non-resident students should not have to suffer in payments just to help fund a school.

Literature Review Blog #4

Citation:

Abbey, Craig W., Allison Armour-Garb, and Government Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of. "Nonresident Tuition And Fees At SUNY. Rates, Policies, And Consequences." Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute Of Government (2010): ERIC. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

Summary:

This article is about the clear reasons why SUNY school system charges higher prices for non-resident tuition. It also states the benefits it has not only for the university but the benefits for the state as well. This article also gives information about other states and how their enrollment/pricing compares to the SUNY school system for the nonresident prices they charge.

Author:

Craig W. Abbey and Allison Armour-Garb

Quotes:

“An across-the-board approach to nonresident tuition increases could lead to increased revenues at some campuses, while at other campuses it might decrease revenues, undermine academic quality, and lead to economic losses in the regions where those campuses are located”

“Some small states, such as Delaware and Vermont, attract large numbers of nonresident students to their public research universities in order to have a larger institution, with a greater economic impact and a broader range of high-quality academic and athletic programs than their state could support alone.”

“Another reason may be that residents are more likely to remain in the state after graduation and thus contribute future tax revenues.”

“However, a nonresident tuition increase will not necessarily increase revenues. This is because prospective students are essentially customers who are going to decide to enroll only if they think the education they will receive is worth the asking price.”

“Typically, consumers do not consume more of a good as its price rises. However, as price increases, so does demand for certain high-end goods.”

Key Terms:

Demand, elasticity, revenue, and compare

Value:

This article is value to the work that I plan on doing for my research paper because it offers a lot of research numbers comparing the differences on nonresident tuition and all of the positive and negative effects it has on universities. 

Literature Review Blog #3

Citation:

Barnes, Bradley, and Michael S. Harris. "PRIVATIZATION INFLUENCES and STRATEGIC ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT DECISIONS IN PUBLIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES." College and University 85.4 (2010): 2-9. ProQuest. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Summary:

The issue of the market downfall had made a strong desire for universities to properly recruit out of state students that not only have strong academics but also have strong financial situation to help the universities become more attractive and competitive. The strong dependency of student enrollment is strongly because of the fall of state funding.

Author:

Bradley Barnes and Michael S. Harris

Key Terms:

Enrollment, privatization, market, dependency

Quotes:

“In effect, the ‘shift away from public funding has led to an increased emphasis on using strategic enrollment management to improve tuition revenue’ (St. John and Priest 2006, p. 4 4). This also places pressure on institutions to grow in size, reputation, and prestige.”

“Resource dependency encourages public institutions to seek sources of support to improve institutional quality in an attempt to become immune to the whims of the local statehouse. The efficacy of resource dependency in describing market-driven enrollment management continues to grow”

“A finance administrator explained, ‘Our budget structure and our endowments and development programs are much more in line with private universities than public universities, and I think we will continue to do that.’”

“Tuition revenues, along with the enrollment strategies used to obtain them, are powerful forces that assist market-driven universities in meeting budgetary shortfalls.”

“Such susceptibility to market influences increases the risk that decisions that once were campus-based instead will be market-based. The continuing decline of state support will only exacerbate and accelerate these trends.”

Value:

This article will establish the importance of non-residence funding that universities depend on and also why they depend on that funding due to the issues of tax issues.