Marshall holds the line on tuition increases as cost of living rises

Matt Tidd, senior vice president for finance and chief financial officer, said it’s a $220 increase for undergraduate students and $230 for graduate students. The tuition increase was paired with a fee increase of 3% for housing and dining.

The same morning, the federal government said the Consumer Price Index increased 0.4% percent in March, the same increase as in February. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.5%. The rising cost of shelter and gasoline contributed more than half of the monthly increase in the index for all items.

The overall increase of 3.5% for the 12 months ending in March was larger than the 3.2% percent increase for the 12 months ending in February.

There are two ways of looking at this. Given the cost of operating a university, some sort of tuition increase may have been necessary. It’s difficult to say that with certainty without a deep dive into line items and obligations of each department. But the fact the increase was limited to the students who pay the least and that it was less than the year-over-year inflation rate for the cost of living is a mitigating factor in judging the need for the increase.

Marshall President Brad D. Smith commented, “(We are) just modestly raising the in-state, and that’s going to be below inflation. That’s because we are already the lowest price, and we feel like that’s going to be an incredibly fair value for the students while we try to not outprice ourselves everywhere else.”

Four-year colleges and universities are in a tight spot, the same as their students are. Higher education has been on a steep upward trend in terms of tuition and fees for several years. Many potential students who consider the price of a four-year or an advanced degree are deciding it’s not worth the investment. When a large number of entry-level jobs require a degree but don’t pay enough to justify the investment, that discourages West Virginians and others from buying what higher education offers.

This relatively small and limited tuition increase shows schools are paying more attention to the needs and debt loads of their current and prospective students. Such attention is long overdue. As some commenters like to say, that which can’t go on forever, won’t.

Higher education has a big selling job on its hands to convince the market that the monetary and nonmonetary benefits of education outweigh the costs. It’s an increasingly tough sell, but holding the line on tuition is a good start.