Where does our money go?

A New York Times article on Sept. 26 quoted Marcia Bromberg, Vice President for Finance and Administration at the University, as saying that “the reality is people will pay whatever we charge them. There’s no end to what people will pay. In fact, the more you charge, the more they like it. People look around and say, ‘If they charge a lot, it must be good.’”

Although Bromberg claims she was misquoted, there is certainly a perception in our society that a good college education merits paying in excess of $35,000 a year. The reality is that with such a competitive job market and high demand for tertiary education in most positions, students are willing to take out loans to spend four years at a prestigious university like ours. Along with their money, students are investing a lot of trust in the University; they believe that their tuition money will be spent wisely and in the best interest of their education.

This trust needs to be proven. A link to the budget should be included on the University website to ensure that everyone, not just the Administration, can see and understand where the dollars are going. A simple breakdown of how our thousands are spent would allow students to understand the priorities of the Administration. At the same time, this information would allow students to make more constructive criticism.

The Administration should also emphasize education when deciding how to allocate funds. With so much construction taking place around campus, it is easy to believe that too much money is going toward new dorms to replace wood frame housing instead of funding Spanish or sign language courses or creating an ethnic studies major.

It is nice having new desktops in our computer labs, bright signs around campus and state of the art facilities, but the reason we spend tens of thousands of dollars is not for the chicken quesadillas at Summerfields.

While a good proportion of this money comes from alumni donations and Master Plan fundraisers, perhaps the University needs to re-evaluate why funds are raised. The quality of an education is what draws prospective students; it is the reason they are applying to colleges. This University should focus on providing the best quality education and letting everyone know how it is being funded.