Fall-ing tuition
CMU made the right move and let parents and potential students know that the Promise will not be in effect starting in the fall. Incoming students should register for summer classes or online classes before the fall cutoff leaves them with varying tuition rates.
But the Board of Trustees isn't out of the woods yet. Trustees will have some difficult decisions to make in the near future - namely deciding what tuition should be for incoming freshmen now that the Promise is gone.
Incoming freshmen in the fall 2007 paid $9,120 a year for classes - the fourth highest in the state.
CMU's big thing was that rate would be extended over five years. Now that promise is gone. Tuition likely will be raised each year now.
But the first thing CMU should consider is lowering tuition for fall 2008 students.
Tuition for everyone on campus was raised because any increased costs on campus must be borne by the incoming class - only 20 percent of the campus. But now that everyone on campus will be paying a rate that accounts for the future, why not ease the burden on incoming students who now will face (likely) increases every year?
Tuition at CMU doubled from 2003 to 2007. That was because of the structure of the Promise; now without the Promise the rate should reflect that of other schools once again.
CMU still compares favorably with state universities, it's 12th out of 15 - but that's an average and CMU is now competing on the same level as other universities. Changing nothing would mean incoming students will pay $9,120 a year for classes - a silent increase of almost 25 percent over the current state average of $7,343.
Lowering tuition by 5 percent would still shoot CMU to the fourth most expensive university in the state. CMU could lower tuition by 17 percent and still charge the same tuition that they do now (on average).
The Promise was made for planning purposes, so just let parents know what tuition plans are being considered. Waiting until July 17 to give even a hint of what's in store is too late.
The CMU Promise had many problems, but its predictability was not among them. In place of the certainty of the Promise, university officials now have to refer concerns about the future to the future. This is fine for now, but parents and incoming students shouldn't have to wait until July to find out what they are going to pay for a CMU education - that's too late.
The fiduciary responsibility of the university needs to be balanced with the parent and student's responsibility to prepare.
