Tufts Daily, MA
09-14-07
Biology majors, come on down: Universities play 'The Price is Right' as
differential tuition trend spreads to colleges across the nation
Carrie Battan
Bioscience majors are seeing bigger numbers on their bills around the at college
around the nation, although Tufts will not join the trend.
Media Credit: Matt Skibinski
Bioscience majors are seeing bigger numbers on their bills around the at college
around the nation, although Tufts will not join the trend.
Picture your freshman quest for a major like a trip to the grocery store: Various
majors are treated like different kinds of produce, with prices based on how much
they cost to grow and ship, plus how greatly they'll benefit you when you eat
them.
At a liberal arts college where an emphasis is placed on academic
experimentation and a well-rounded education, such a concept seems farfetched.
But an increasing number of public universities nationwide are charging students
higher or lower tuition based on the majors they choose.
According to a July article in The New York Times, Iowa State University began
to charge its engineering students an extra $500 per year last year. The
University of Nebraska asked its engineering students to pay $40 more per credit
hour, while the University of Kansas and University of Illinois began charging
more for education in the fields of business, engineering, and natural sciences.
Tufts Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said that charging students more for
certain majors would be as unfair as charging them extra to live in nicer dorms.
According to Reitman, such pricing schemes could lead to divides on campus.
"It would change the whole feeling of who we are," Reitman said. "I don't believe
at all in differential rates in housing for the same reason. We're one community."
Reitman also likened differential tuition rates to changes in student activity fees.
"There are lots of activities at school that are subsidized by general tuition," he
said. "For example, how many people participate in athletics? Supporting varsity
teams is something that tuition supports; it's not the student activity fee. Should
we charge more tuition for people who play sports?
"The community is a good one because there are activities that we all support
with the budget of the school whether we participate in them or not," he
continued.
Many schools in the Times article listed lab fees and the extra costs of educating
a student in fields like engineering and the natural sciences as the reasons
behind differential tuition.
Senior Ted Pei, who is majoring in biopsychology and biomedical engineering,
supported the idea of differential tuition, even if it meant the amount of money he
had to pay for his own education would rise.
"As an engineer, you're going to be working in labs, using a lot of expensive
equipment," he said. "It's unfair to charge people majoring in non-engineering
majors extra for something they'll never participate in academically."
But for students like sophomore Annie Brennan, having the ability to participate
in costlier disciplines should preclude differential rates.
"At a liberal arts school, we're offered opportunities to take classes with labs
even if they're not related to our majors," she said, giving the example that she
could opt to take biology courses despite her international relations and child
development majors.
Pei added that he would be willing to pay more for an undergraduate education in
the sciences as he'd be offered a higher-paying job immediately upon graduation,
giving him a financial advantage in the long run. The disparity between the
starting salaries of jobs offered to people in different majors is a main reason
cited by many schools for charging differential tuition rates.
"It's a sound investment," Pei said.
But Amanda Casale, a junior majoring in Chemical Engineering, said that
choosing a major does not immediately determine higher or lower salaries.
"There's a big range of salaries by major," she said.
Reitman agreed and questioned the sensibility of charging students based on the
salaries they might potentially command post-graduation.
"I think if we started saying that because doctors, lawyers, and engineers are
probably going to make more money later, and we start charging them more
money [as undergraduates] - that would seem very odd and not at all useful in
my mind," Reitman said.
Casale also questioned whether making certain majors more expensive than
others would have an effect on students' choice of major, and furthermore,
choice of college.
"[Differential tuition] is going to inhibit people from wanting certain majors, and
that's a problem," she said, adding that fewer students feel drawn to engineering
sciences regardless of tuition. "I'd be less inclined to go to a school that is
prejudiced against certain majors."
Reitman did support fee differences within graduate schools, where the cost of
educating someone in the field of veterinary or dental medicine is very high. But
in the undergraduate arena, he stressed that education is more than just
business.
"We think of ourselves as admitting someone to the community and the last thing
we want to do is be divisive," he said. "We have to consider business practices
like that in an area where decisions should be made on educational grounds:
what's best for the learning model."
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