Tuition Hikes- YIKES!

By: Maiya Robinson

Oct. 13, NEW BRUNSWICK N.J. - Rutgers students are livid over the 1.7% tuition increase that the University approved for the 2016-2017 school year.

What has student’s really upset though are the salary raises of Rutgers personnel.

 “I don’t get it,” Junior Mariah Pong said. “I am struggling to keep up with my bills so that they can get paid more. Is Rutgers a school or a business?”

Pong also mentioned how the raises have caused for cuts backs in transportation and other departments.

“…It is ridiculous,” Pong said.

This is not the first or only student complaint about the university’s new spending habits.

 Rutgers is in its 250 anniversary and the school is making the upgrades it needs to reflect excellence, including new apartments and academic buildings.

Rutgers Junior and business major Kristy Li is one who does not see excellence in the new upgrades, but instead, disappointment.

“How do they justify tuition increases when the rest of the university is falling apart,” Li said.

Li use to live in the Newel Apartments located on Cook Campus.

She describes them as infested with mold, yet she only paid a little less than those living in the newer apartments did.

Li is not the only student who feels disappointed in University efforts.

Her classmate, Eva Meyers has expressed her outrage with the condition of academic buildings.

Myers has class in Loree hall, located on Douglass Campus.

The building, along with others does not contain air-cooling or heating systems and the students find themselves in small classrooms with more students than seats.

“I pay all this money for an education but I can’t even concentrate in class,” Myers said. “I barely go to my classes anymore.”

Many students feel as if their education is not a priority to the university and Myers believes Rutgers lacks empathy and understanding.

“They don’t care about us,” Myers said. “They care about their money. When the blackout occurred last month, I barely got an email regarding my safety. But when my term bill is due, they cut off all access to resources until it is paid.”

Students like Myers and Li are fed up with the University’s inconsistent ways. They view the university as “fame driven” and “factious”.

But can you blame them?

As Rapper Troy Ave once said, it’s “all about the money”.

Freshmen Andrew Fash has a different perspective however, and feels that the university is just adjusting to the economic situation that the country is facing.

“As time progresses, so does cost,” Fash said. “It’s not going to stay the same forever. Milk prices are not the same as they were five years ago, and neither is tuition. It’s life.”

Though Fash feels less strongly about the universities spending habits, he does agree that there seems to be a lack of regard for student needs.

“…They can do better,” Fash said.

Rutgers is expected to increase tuition again next year, and students are already planning their attack.

“They can’t do this anymore,” Myers said. “We are definitely revolutionary but not in a good way.”

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Rutgers may have been established before the Revolutionary war, but they are definitely facing battles in the future.