Rising Tuition in Tennessee Schools.(University of Memphis)

Living in today’s society requires more than it did back when our parents where
coming up. To be successful in today’s fast pace world there is one main component
society says that we must have. That one main key component is a college degree of
some shape or form. The further we move to the future, the more expensive
education costs. The following is an discussion on the causes and effects of the rising tuition costs especially at the University of Memphis.

The University of Memphis has always been known for its prestige and
excellence. The school is one of the better public schools in all of Memphis, and in Tennessee. Another thing that the school is starting to get noticed for is the high dollar amount of tuition per semester it costs to attend the University of Memphis. If you look at the history of tuition costs for the University of Memphis you will notice that over the past 20 years tuition has gradually sky rocketed to what it is today (which is around almost 3000 dollars per semester).

“The costs of an education at the U of M has gone up each year for the past 20
years by varying amounts with percentages ranging from less than 3 to the mid-teens,” said University of Memphis spokesman Curt Guenther. Last year tuition rose 4.1 percent at TBR schools. To some this large rise in tuition can be justified but others this large change can be devastating. The University of Memphis “claims” that the excess money collected by the tuition increase goes towards utilities, maintenance repairs, construction costs and salary increases says Regents board member Bill Watkins. Also as part of my research for this essay I interviewed multiple students on this same issue and gave them all the same information which was said by Bill Watkins and all of the students voiced the same issues. Issues which included things from parking, all the way to living conditions on campus. I for one am a witness to some of these same issues. Last semester I paid over 3000 dollars just to live in Richardson Towers(which is a dormitory on campus) and I had to deal with no power, no water, no heating and air and lack of space. As a member of the student body I can speak for mostly everyone when I say that we are all baffled on all of this so called money that is being spent on trying to improve
to level of education and safety at he University of Memphis.


Tuition is slated to increase by 141 dollars per semester, one because of the no
increase in last year’s tuition and two because of the ever rising athletic fees, which doubled form $100 to $200 dollars. University of Memphis spokesperson Mr. Guenther describes the increases as “necessary” in order to maintain the quality of education that students and their families expects from the school. In recent lights of the tuition increase at Memphis, there has been more and more reliance on student financial aid(which includes things such as student loans, pel grants, and scholarships). For example, students receiving HOPE lottery scholarships won’t really be hurt by the increase in tuition because of the substantial increase in the scholarship from 3,800 to 4,000 per semester.

When it comes to things such as college and financial aid many students who are not
given those opportunities actually fear the ever rising costs of a college education. I found that of the many students that are faced with this issue from day to day, 65% of students postpone college or just don’t go mainly because of the fear of going into debt through student loans. This is the main conflict concerning getting a college education in today’s society.



On the other side of the issue the Memphis Business journal says, “We’re going
to have a terrific erosion of quality in higher education, and we’re not going to be able to recruit and retain quality faculty. The reward is already out and people know that the rewards of Tennessee higher education are not competitive; there are so many potential faculty members that won’t even look at us.” This article was entitled “Budget Cuts Weaken Faculty, and Enrollment.” This year tuition makes up 42% of the schools year to year funding, this was a drastic increase in last year. What others are saying is that without this funding, the already unacceptable conditions here are only going to get worse and never better. Without the increased funding (rise in tuition) for the school, all of our cries for better facilities and better equipment and better security will all go unnoticed.

To many the causes and effects of a rising college tuition are what most think about, but those caused and effects mean absolutely nothing if you first don’t have and understand the reason behind it. The reason for all of the change it tuition costs is an attempt to better the campus in many different ways. Ways from better security to ways from better teachers and books. On campus we recently had a shooting and after the shooting many students cried out for better security on campus. Many of these same students who were asking for these same things are the main ones that are not in support of the rise in tuition. People have to understand; to get something in return, you must first give something.