The College Perspective by Lindsey

Students Face Rising Debt, But Not Without A Fight

Students at Morningside College are finding it harder to pay for school after another rise in tuition price, leading to creative approaches in gaining more income.

For students, this cost is another addition to the worries and responsibilities of newfound adulthood. Grady Klein, a sophomore and vocal performance major at Morningside is currently receiving a $5,000 talent scholarship as well as a $7,000 ambassador scholarship, but still has to take out loans to pay the school’s bills. Klein tried to get more help at the financial aid office, but was told there were no more options for him at the time. Because of this, he has picked up two work study jobs in Campus Security and as an RA.

For the 2015-2016 school year, the tuition price was $26,680, and for a full time student who lived on campus for the full nine months, the total cost was $38,053. This year, the tuition price is $27,620, while the total for a full time student adds up to $39,279.

Klein picked Morningside College specifically because of the small class sizes and welcoming atmosphere, but believes his education would suffer if he had to move to a larger school because of price. He has seen several friends forced to make big decisions such as moving to an apartment because it’s cheaper or transferring to another college entirely. Klein thinks for the amount he has to pay extra for music lessons, (required for his major), the college isn’t quite giving him the fullest or best education for his money.

To combat these issues with pricing, Klein believes that the financial aid office should offer more help or classes to students, especially after freshman year. He felt like he was left too much on his own and thinks students could benefit from more explanations of budgeting, prices, or even cheaper living arrangements. This way more individuals are helped and don’t feel intimidated by the private college pricing system.

The change is mostly due to rises in personnel costs enacted by the Vice President for Business and Finance, Ron Jorgensen, and a team of individuals who look over the budget every year. As Jorgensen stated in terms of where the extra costs come from, “Higher education is very people intense and buildings, and so when these costs tend to go up, it puts pressure on funding an institution like colleges and stuff.”

Salaries for employees typically grow each year, with the college having to pay $1.8 million on health insurance alone. As colleges are heavily dependent on enrollment, it can be hard for small private schools to get the money they need to support more financial aid options and other programs.

Jorgensen says that fundraising is a major part of getting students the help they need to attend college. In the last year, the college used fundraising to gather $4 million between the annual and endowment portfolios. Scholarships that help students are typically funded through the endowment portfolio’s contents.

Besides scholarships, donors also help with the large number of renovations on buildings around campus, and in some cases, the college can get help from the state of Iowa in the form of tax credits, as certain buildings are considered historical landmarks.

In regards to how the price change has affected his daily life Klein said, “I guess it’s made it more stressful overall because it’s just another thing I have to worry about.”

Karen Gagnon, the Director of Student Financial Planning, believes that while the financial aid office hasn’t been able to expand the amount of financial aid, they always try to sit down with families and make sure they’ve looked at all the options for help available.

Sometimes even something as simple as being adopted can lead to another scholarship opportunity for a student. As Gagnon said, “For us, many times we can offset some of that difference between the state school by the scholarships that we offer, and so many times we are equivalent to a state school pricing.”

While rising costs have and continue to be a problem for college students, those at Morningside are proactively fighting the change and hope to emerge with less debt than their predecessors.