February 2009

Issue 1, Volume 7

Firstly, I would like to apologize. It is my fault for mistaking your ineptitude with criminal malfeasance. I thought that perhaps you had some nefarious reasons behind the tuition increases. Now I realize you are just simply oblivious to reality.
I say this, not to incite, but rather to provide insight, because what you are doing is not just immoral, not just wrong, but stupid beyond comprehension and will hurt New York State more than it will help. In the end, these tuition increases will provide less revenue than if you had left Binghamton students alone, and will also bring down one of the best public university systems in the country.

Now, while I consider the entire tuition increase to be a horrible misuse of your power, I will limit the scope of this column to your increase of out-of-state tuition. This topic is nearer to my heart, as I do not hail from New York State, and am therefore going to be taxed an extra $1,130 this semester, rather than the $310 residents will be charged.

The disparity between the rates of increase is both incredibly unfair and incredibly dumb. In 2008, out-of-state tuition was 245% more than in-state tuition. The spring 2009 out-of-state tuition increase is 365% more than the in-state hike, a full 100% more than the original tuition ratio. But here’s the clincher. This semester, 16% of Binghamton’s student body is made up of non-residents. Those 1,843 students contributed an extra $1,511,260 with their inflated tuition increase. Now, if only 60 of those 1,843 students drop out, the forgone tuition, room, and board will wipe out the gains made by the tuition increase. Think about it. Is it possible that 3% of the out of state students will transfer to a more affordable school? How about 4%, or perhaps 5%? Now you will be losing money.
Economists would recognize this phenomenon as resembling the downward slope of the Laffer Curve, or the point in which increasing taxes will decrease tax revenue because people abandon the system. I recognize this phenomenon as obtuse. The numbers are totally against you. The million dollars or so you are trying to nickel and dime from us is not going to put much of a dent in the 1.6 billion dollar budget gap. The margins are so slim, the gain so little, that it is baffling how fervently you and your administration have pursued these increases.

Wait, you would say Binghamton saw a 50% increase in applications for next semester; interest is at an all time high and can only continue to grow. Really? What do you think is so attractive about Binghamton? It sure isn’t the weather or the scenery. So what then? Could it be the statement pasted all over the school website? The one that says: “Kiplinger’s Best Value Education?” Could it be that the price is just right?
Binghamton is a very respectable school, but you’d be kidding yourself to compare it to a Harvard or a Yale. US News ranked Binghamton’s undergraduate program 77th in the nation. That’s good, but it’s not incredible. What has set Binghamton apart, what has led to all those applications and all the money the general fund is already receiving, is the value. Binghamton has already dropped the number one ranking in a number of surveys. What happens when Binghamton, or for that matter, any of the SUNY schools, just aren’t worth the cost? What happens to your tax increase when enrollment remains stagnant, or declines?
It’s already starting. Abington Heights High School, in eastern Pennsylvania, saw only eight students apply to SUNY schools this year. The guidance office at GAR in Wilkes Barre said that applications to SUNY are, “way down”. Cheryl Evans of the Scranton High School guidance department reported that on average, twelve SHS students apply to SUNY schools. This year, one student applied.
So forget the deceitful, shameless way you sprung the tuition increase on the students. Forget how you are taking 90% of our tuition to pay for your budget. Forget all the nonsense in the execution of your increase and look at the facts: Increasing the tuition every year until 2013 (which is what is planned) will drop Binghamton out of the “Best Value” rankings and will certainly lead to a decline in out-of-state enrollment. In the end, you will be left with a ruined public education system that generates less revenue. And with the out-of-state enrollment goes the diversity. Binghamton, Geneseo, Buffalo, and all the others will truly be extensions of Long Island and Westchester. You will destroy what was such an incredible resource and all because you lack the foresight to see beyond the next budget meeting.

So look elsewhere. Make every highway in New York a toll road. Lower the purchase age of cigarettes to twelve. Legalize heroin. Give the pilot of Flight 1549 a 1.6 billion dollar parking ticket. All of these ideas are just as unbelievably imbecilic as your tuition increase, but unlike your plan, may actually help close the budget gap.

Chris Loomis is a freshman PPL major. He wants you to call our representatives and tell them not to raise our tuition.