Students Brace for Largest Tuition Jump in Years

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:18:00 GMT

Tuition increases at the nation’s colleges are inevitable.

However, in the current economic climate — where states are slashing budgets to the bone — public colleges are being forced to raise tuition at rates that haven’t been seen in years, reports The Associated Press (“Families Await Sharpest Tuition Increases in Years,” Jan. 15, 2009).

Public, state-supported institutions have hiked tuition fees by 8 to 10 percent during economic recessions of the past in order to make up for reductions in government contributions, according to Nick Johnson of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington.

“This recession is worse. This state fiscal crisis is worse than last time, so we would expect state tuition increases to be larger than in past years,” Johnson said.

With severe budget cutbacks in the governor of California’s new budget proposal, for example, university fees are expected to rise by at least 10 percent at California state schools. And the New York state government’s recent announcement of an unusual midyear increase to state public college tuition made it clear that the state’s budget crisis was so severe it couldn’t afford to wait until fall to impose a 14-percent tuition hike.

John Hayek, interim vice president of finance for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, says although the state announced it will hold tuition increases below last year’s, which ranged from 6 to 10 percent for in-state students, the state still plans to raise tuition by about 5 percent at community colleges and between 7 and 10 percent at public universities.

Families Uncertain How to Cover Extra Costs

For the four out of five American college students who attend public schools, these tuition increases have become a cause for concern, particularly in regard to their families’ ability to afford their college education.

Since many families lost savings in the stock market or can no longer tap home equity loans due to the real estate crash, says Jim Boyle, president of advocacy group College Parents of America, paying for college next year may be a particularly painful process with fewer means of financing college available.

“We’re probably going to have to take some options off the table (for the other children) unless things change,” said Donna Kopec, whose daughter’s college mutual fund lost a third of its value.

Kopec says that the drop in the market has created a funding challenge for all three of her college-bound daughters. She hopes President Barack Obama will follow through on campaign promises that include increasing Pell Grant amounts and implementing programs that award college grants in exchange for community service.

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New York AG Examines Colleges’ Relationships With Health Insurers

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:30:00 GMT

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating the relationships between colleges and the health insurance companies they do business with just two years after he launched a similar investigation that uncovered conflicts of interest between some colleges and student loan companies, The New York Times reports (“Cuomo Investigating Colleges’ Deals With Health Insurers,” Nov. 17, 2008).

Investigators will focus on determining if schools adequately disclose the policy terms and costs of their school-sponsored health insurance plans to their students, as well as whether or not insurers offer schools a monetary incentive to require that their students buy health insurance through a particular provider.

In an e-mail message, Benjamin Lawsky, special assistant to the attorney general, wrote “We are primarily focused on whether insurance companies are paying schools to push students into health coverage they don’t really need and shouldn’t really want.”

“With students and their families being financially squeezed at every turn,” he added, “colleges must ensure that they are looking out for students’ best interest first and foremost as opposed to their own financial bottom line.”

Cuomo has requested health insurance–related documents from six State University of New York schools — Binghamton, Buffalo State, Oswego, Purchase, Stony Brook, and the University at Buffalo. Investigators have asked to see copies of the schools’ requests for proposals from insurers, insurance contracts, and the information given to students about the health plans available to them, as well as statistics on the health insurance premiums paid by students.

Four institutions, Georgetown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, and Sarah Lawrence College, said they had received subpoenas.

Parents have complained that some schools require students to purchase school-sponsored health insurance, even though the student is already insured under a family health insurance policy, said James Boyle, president of College Parents of America, an association of parents of college students.

Although “the vast majority of college students” are covered under their parent’s health insurance, most campus health centers don’t accept insurance plans that aren’t affiliated with the school, Boyle added.

“Instead,” he said, “some schools force the student, as a condition of enrollment, to purchase health insurance policies offered by the school.”

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Student Loan Blog : College Parents of America

Students Brace for Largest Tuition Jump in Years

New York AG Examines Colleges’ Relationships With Health Insurers