Limit students’ additional expenses
Between the 2011-12 and 2015-16 school year, the total cost of attending John Brown University, including tuition, fees and room and board, has increased by an average of $1,201 each year.
In the same time frame, tuition alone increased by an average of $891 per year. A senior who graduates in May 2016 and paid regular tuition fees and room and board for four years will end up paying $3,456 more this year than their freshman year.
They will have paid $7,744 more over the four years than they would have if the cost of attendance stayed the same. While tuition goes up, the university scholarships do not.
“JBU scholarships are locked in at the amount that they were originally awarded and don’t increase with tuition,” David Burney, associate director of financial aid, said.
Burney explained that scholarships do increase each year for incoming freshmen, but remain the same for all four years once they have been awarded.
We The Threefold Advocate believe that the University scholarships should increase over time along with the cost of attendance.
Students are not always aware of the potential of tuition increases and often make decisions of the schools they attend. This means that students sometimes think the price they paid as freshman will be the price they pay as seniors.
Therefore, We The Threefold Advocate believe that scholarships should increase at the same rate as tuition increase. This will limit the amount of additional expenses the students incur after starting school.
We understand that it necessary to increase tuition for the sake of inflation and increased faculty salary. However, increasing tuition without increasing scholarships compromises the value of these scholarships. It leaves students with more bills to pay than expected based on their freshman financial aid package.
The increase in scholarship may also not cover the full increase. For example, a student with a half tuition scholarship will still be paying for half of the tuition increase.
We also understand that scholarships come from donors and the University is not always in control. However, we think it should be a priority for the University to continue to increase scholarships along with tuition.
Due to this evidence, The Threefold Advocate urges the University to consider increasing scholarships along with the increase of tuition.