Students react to Rutgers' tuition hike

By Madison Quo

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Oct. 13 - Students at Rutgers University had mixed feelings and opinions about the recent tuition hike for the 2016-2017 school year.
Over the summer, the Rutgers’ Board of Governors made the decision to increase undergraduate tuition and fees by 1.7 percent, which averages to about $241.
Most students were not happy about the increase as they were already concerned with their existing student loans.
Sylvia Pak, a junior majoring in political science, was one of those students. She worries she will not be able to pay off her student loans after graduation, she said.
“A 1.7 percent increase may not seem like a lot, but it does add up,” Pak said. “My term bill likes to remind me.”
Pak, along with many other students, has a part-time job while balancing the workload and life of a full-time student.
“I work at Vivi Bubble Tea on Easton Avenue and I need money so I always try to work on days I don’t have class,” she said.
Khaula Saad, a sophomore with a double major in English and journalism and media studies, has two jobs, one with the Daily Targum and the other with RU-tv. Making money while being in school is beneficial because Rutgers is so expensive, she said.
“It’s not easy working two jobs and going to all my classes,” Saad said. “But I have to. I need to. How else am I going to survive?”
Some students supported Rutgers and the Board’s decision to raise their tuition.
Rutgers is a state university where changes are constantly being made. And these changes are for the better. Take the Yard on College Avenue, for example. They are new apartments and restaurants everyone admires and loves. This all comes from our tuition, junior Aba Nassar said.
“I don’t exactly like it but I can totally see why they’d raise our tuition,” senior Courtney Fee said. “Rutgers is upgrading or at least I hope it is with all the construction they’re doing around here.”
For most students, the tuition hike did not come as a surprise. Faraz Ali, a junior majoring in financial accounting, was not fazed when he heard the news.
“Rutgers’ tuition increases every year,” he said. “It’s really no surprise at all. They’ll just do the same thing again next year and the year after that.”
Students should expect Rutgers to raise their tuition. If it is a surprise and they are not happy with it, they should consider transferring to another school, Serena Ortiz, a sophomore majoring in dance, said.
“My older sister used to go here so my family is completely aware of the tuition change,” she said. “We knew what to expect when I chose to go to Rutgers too.”
One Scarlet Knight, however, was surprised but indifferent about the whole situation because he felt it was not his concern.
“There’s an increase in tuition?” freshman Nick Wong said. “Well it doesn’t affect me. It’s my parents’ problem, not mine. I’ll let them deal with it.”