Are We Still Getting What We Pay For?

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Author: Sarah Spinuzzi

Fifty-eight thousand four hundred and thirty-two is a big number. That is the total expected cost of the 2011-2012 school year at Occidental, which includes tuition as well as room and board. This figure includes a 5.5 percent increase in housing charges and a 5 percent increase in tuition, yet it is hard to figure out where the money is going.

Classes are larger than ever before, dorms are overcrowded and the desks in Johnson and Fowler are circa 1884. Increasing the cost of attendance ought to result in better quality of life for students. However, the cost increases seem to have little correlation with an improved undergraduate experience.

As a first-year, I lived in a forced triple in Stewie without air-conditioning and with two-thirds of a small closet. My bed was lofted, it was about 108 degrees in August and I had to duct tape a fan to the wall by my bed with hopes of being able to fall asleep up there near the ceiling. At the end of the year, I was charged an 80 dollar damage fee for duct tape residue on the walls.

Don’t get me wrong: I loved every second of living in The Stew, but I wouldn’t value my living conditions at 10,000 dollars for the school year.

Despite the poor quality of some on-campus housing, its price continues to rise, which is troublesome. As the student body grows, the number of rooms on campus remains fixed, which forces freshmen into triples and leaves older students without campus housing.

The over-crowding problems are not isolated to housing. Student population problems occur in the classrooms as well. The Occidental Web page “By the Numbers” boasts of a student to faculty ratio of 10:1, which curiously contradicts the total number of students, 2,102, and the number of full-time faculty, which is 169.

A simple calculation reveals that this ratio (excluding adjunct faculty) is more like 12:1. After the initial round of the fall 2012 registration process, most students already know that even a 12:1 ratio is misleading.

A large number of courses have 25-35 person limits, and according to course counts, most of these classes are not only full but have large wait-lists.

According to some  rising juniors who had the last registration slot, they are only enrolled in one course. False advertising is a crime, but it is not a crime that seems to bother administrators.

When students choose to attend Occidental, it is usually not for a raging social scene or an awesome athletics program. Rather, they choose Occidental for small class sizes and the avoidance of other problems encountered at large state schools, such as overcrowding. It is a pretty simple concept; students want a quality liberal arts experience and they are willing to pay for it.

Unfortunately, costs are rising, and the quality educational experience is not as has been advertised. Students are not getting what they pay for.

Students should not expect that tuition costs remain constant. It is important to acknowledge the largely beneficial places the college spends money. According to Occidental financial aid website, 75 percent of all students receive financial aid. Older buildings such as Swan are being renovated. Perhaps they might one day install air-conditioning in Stewie.

While these expenses are important, the school seems incapable of both renovating and providing a quality liberal arts experience. The inability to allocate funds appropriately is appalling and even worse, Occidental is still asking for more money.

The administration is receiving a lot of criticism for the recently proposed cost increases, and rightly so. Students should expect something in exchange for the rise in tuition that far exceeds the inflation rate (which has not risen above two percent in the last two years), such as being able to register for the classes they need for their major without constantly having to beg professors for overrides.

Classes that are actually in line with the 10:1 student to faculty ratio should not be canceled. In return for the increased amount of money the college is asking for, they should take a closer look at the budget and make sure that they are spending students’ money wisely and efficiently. Most importantly, the money should be spent only with the intention of improving students’ academic experience and overall living conditions.

 

Sarah Spinuzzi is a sophomore philosophy major. She can be reached at spinuzzi@oxy.edu.

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