GWU pledges to lower tuition

[asteriskea]

<p>Media sources are picking up the GW Hatchet story that a formal recommendation to lower tuition will be brought before the board of trustees in February: </p>

<p>

George Washington University President Steven Knapp said he plans to lower tuition after recent studies found the school among the most expensive in the Nation.</p>

<p>“I am personally not happy with seeing this institution at the top of the list of price,” Knapp said Friday at the meeting of the University’s Board of Trustees. Without taking GW’s fixed tuition policy into account, the University is the most expensive private institution in the country.</p>

<p>“(The price) leads to the dangerous perception that we’re costing more than we’re worth,” …

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1007/465879.html[/url]”>http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1007/465879.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2007/10/22/News/Knapp.Vows.To.Lower.Tuition-3046519.shtml[/url]”>http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2007/10/22/News/Knapp.Vows.To.Lower.Tuition-3046519.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>According to GW University sources, nearly 33-percent of students who leave the school between their first two years of attendance do so because of financial reasons.</p>

[armcp]

<p>“(The price) leads to the dangerous perception that we’re costing more than we’re worth,” Knapp said.</p>

<p>knapp sounds like he is taking the school in the right direction. good for him.</p>

[natedawg_cfb]

<p>that’s an excellent proposal and a smart pr move, but hopefully it will actually translate into savings for the students too.</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>It is interesting to read former Pres. Trachtenberg’s remarks delivered March 9, 2004, to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions regarding the year-round use of college facilities that touches on the ever escalating cost of American HE:</p>

<p>

… universities have taken on roles they never had before. We offer more courses because the nature and shape of knowledge have changed. We continue the basic and applied research that keeps our nation in the forefront of innovation and assist job creation. We serve communities in new ways – like the $14 million in uncompensated medical care The George Washington University Hospital provided the residents of the District of Columbia last year.</p>

<p>This has made higher education expensive. We have diligently cut costs — faculty and staff salaries at many institutions, for example, have either been frozen, or increased well below the cost of living.</p>

<p>But we’ve had to charge more… </p>

<p>Is there anything more we can do to hold down costs?</p>

<p>There is.</p>

<p>The academic calendar was created to suit an agrarian world. It fit the world of 1780, when tending crops and looking after livestock were more important than learning to read. To allow students to work on the family farm universities operated for slightly more than half the year — generally, two 14-week semesters.</p>

<p>At a time when fewer than 2 percent of Americans work in agriculture, such a system is hopelessly out of date.</p>

<p>Is there a business in America that would close facilities for six months while building new ones alongside them which would also run half a year?</p>

<p>I don’t think so. But right now, too many colleges are busy building new campuses and buildings – and underusing the ones already up. There is a bulge in the college population now that masks this waste of resources. When it disappears, the unfortunate result will be all too apparent…

</p>

<p>Excerpt from the Trachtenberg years:</p>

<p>

In the 19 years that Stephen Joel Trachtenberg has been president of The George Washington University, the campus has been enhanced with more than twelve new buildings, outdoor sculptures, monumental gates, signage, nest pocket parks, seating, and landscaping. The Brady Gallery takes a closer look at these projects through architectural plans, drawings, photographs, and original artworks.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.gwu.edu/~newsctr/pressrelease.cfm?event_id=11068[/url]”>http://www.gwu.edu/~newsctr/pressrelease.cfm?event_id=11068&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[asteriskea]

<p>

In the 1986-1987 academic year at George Washington, the cost of tuition, room and board and fees was $12,795. If that figure had risen by the rate of inflation, today it would be about $23,000. Instead, it’s more than twice that…

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7577551[/url]”>Life at GW: School's Yearly Fees Top $50K : NPR;

[asteriskea]

<p>For those who have expressed an interest in more background information on the various press releases, media articles, related to the GW Hatchet piece, take a few minutes to peruse available university sources such as The George Washington University Faculty Senate Committee on Admissions Policy, Student Financial Aid, and Enrollment Management Annual Reports, diverse reports made by the Board of Trustees, as well as those of Student and Academic Support Services.</p>

<p>

“We don’t want to do things that just look better to the media,” he said.</p>

<p>Lydia Thomas, chair of the academic affairs committee of the Board of Trustees, said GW’s high cost impacts the retention rate of students. She said between 75 and 80 percent of students graduate within six years, a percentage she said is too low.</p>

<p>“We must get into the eighties,” she said.</p>

<p>Thomas continued, “We believe that we are losing students … because by the time they get to their fourth or fifth year, their loans are tapped out and they just can’t pay any longer.”

</p>

[CollegeFanatik]

<p>I can’t believe the Hatchet messed this up but everyone should know about this correction. The website it acting finicky so you can look it up in their archives if you want but it basically says, “Oops! We’re sorry - Knapp never said he would lower tuition.” I guess Knapp is just saying that there won’t be any more rises without a huge justification? I wish I could get the actual text.</p>

[connies]

<p>The cost of tuition is out of whack for the education. What is GW providing extra to their students that a college at the same tier level isn’t. Internships – no. You can get an internship of equal value from any of the other regionally based schools. Campus? I don’t think so, as there is no campus. Higher level professors? No, the match is pretty equal regarding the level of education. Name? It’s not an Ivy, recognized yes, but no more than many other colleges. I am just not sure what all the hype is. Are you paying for city life? Unless you are getting a free ride or your parents are paying the full load, you better have a decent paying job when you are finished to pay off your loans!</p>