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On March 13, President Christine M. Wiseman, sent out a letter to students of Saint Xavier University informing them of a tuition increase of 2.5% for full-time undergraduates for 2015-2016. The cost of room and board will also be increasing by 3%.
“Educating a population that is 61% first-generation and 51% Pell, we are always, always very careful about raising tuition,” said Wiseman. Wiseman, along with the Saint Xavier Board of Trustees raised the tuition in order to be able to give back to students for financial aid.
“The 2.5% increase represents a 1.135 million dollar increase in revenue for the university. But 97% of our full-time undergraduate students receive SXU grants,” said Wiseman.
However, according to Wiseman, the money received from the tuition increase will not cover the 2.774 million-dollar grants needed for the financial aid in 2015-2016.
“Saint Xavier spends 30% of its operating budget in institutional aid to students. That represents one out of every three dollars that we spend, goes directly to fund student education,” said Wiseman.
Samantha Rizzi, a freshman music major, is a recipient of the Saint Xavier grants. “I do receive grants from the school. Over half of my tuition is covered by grants and scholarships,” said Rizzi. However, being a recipient of grants does not exempt Rizzi from being upset about the tuition increase and she is not alone in this dissatisfaction.
“I’ve talked about my dissatisfaction with friends and family. After all, as far as I’m aware, nobody in the school had any say in the matter, and they didn’t really consider how much it might impact those barely able to pay this year’s tuition,” said Rizzi.
While many students are displeased with the increase, no one has expressed their concern directly to Wiseman. “I know students are concerned. […] The board doesn’t make this decision lightly, we don’t make this decision lightly. We all agonize over it because we know it represents an addition revenue expense to our students,” said Wiseman.
Some students, such as Alejandra Quezada, a junior communications major, wish that Saint Xavier students had a little more say in what happens when it comes to tuition.
“I would’ve liked if there was a letter or email sent out asking what we as a student body would like to see done at Saint Xavier with the tuition increase. The kind of just sent us a letter with the decision already made, you either pay more or no longer attend. Pretty black and white,” said Quezada.
While students will not have a say in the current tuition increase, Wiseman wants to assure students that the increase will benefit the majority. “The increase in tuition is an effort to off-set some of the additional moneys this university will spend in need-based aid for students,” said Wiseman.
As for the increase in room and board, it was a decision made to balance out rising costs that beyond the university’s control.
“I think we always try to provide optimum quality; food expenses are going up, heating expenses are going, everything is going up. We try to provide the best services we can knowing what we can afford to pay for those services,” said Wiseman.
The rising cost of tuition is also not the affect of the Gilbert campus.
“The Gilbert budget is a separate thing. The Gilbert budget has nothing to do with the amount of money that we are committing to educate students who come to this campus. We are committing $2.77 million because that is what it will take to educate the students on the Chicago campus,” said Wiseman.
Katharine Arvia & Lauren Dwyer
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