Letters & Op-Eds

Letters to the Editor

Re: Op-Ed, "School for Scandal," Dec. 25 (College cost drivers)

Empirical evidence refutes A. Gary Shilling's claim in "School for Scandal" (Dec. 25, 2006) that increasing funding for federal student aid would fuel tuition growth. Two U.S. Department of Education studies have shown that there are no associations between federal grants, state grants, student loans and changes in tuition, and that there is "little evidence" to show that federal student aid increases have contributed to tuition inflation.

Congress has not kept funding for student aid in line with inflation, family need or the wave of low-income and first-generation college students. The maximum Pell Grant contribution hasn't increased in five years. Average net tuition (published price minus grants and tax benefits) at private colleges and universities is $13,200--more than 40% below the average published tuition. There's only so much more that private institutions can do. It's time for Congress to hold up its end of the social compact that has made college possible for millions of students over the last 40 years.

Sincerely, 

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: "Controlling college costs"

Leslie Carbone (Open Forum, Dec. 12) offers the perfect prescription for making American higher education unaffordable and inaccessible -- by cutting the federal student aid programs. Every piece of existing empirical evidence refutes her claim that federal student aid feeds college tuition increases. Two U.S. Department of Education studies have shown that there are "no associations between ... federal grants, state grants, and student loans, and changes in tuition," and "there is little evidence ... that federal student aid increases have contributed to tuition inflation." The erosion of federal student aid in the past five years has become an additional strain on college budgets as institutions attempt to fill the gap. Congress has not kept funding for student aid in line with inflation, growing family need, or the wave of low-income and first-generation college students who are academically prepared for college. Federal student aid has made college possible for students from all backgrounds for 40 years. Add a federal disinvestment in student aid to rising institutional cost pressures and growing student need, and you've created a recipe for financial disaster for students and their families.

Sincerely, 

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

Letters to the Editor

Re: "Controlling college costs"

Leslie Carbone offers the perfect prescription for making American higher education unaffordable and inaccessible — that is, by cutting federal student aid programs ("Controlling college costs," Commentary, Dec. 10). Every piece of existing empirical evidence refutes her claim that federal student aid feeds college tuition increases.

Two U.S. Department of Education studies have shown that there are "no associations between federal grants, state grants, and student loans, and changes in tuition," and "there is little evidence that federal student aid increases have contributed to tuition inflation."

The erosion of federal student aid in the past five years has become an additional strain on college budgets as institutions attempt to fill the gap. Congress has not kept funding for student aid in line with inflation, growing family need or the wave of low-income and first-generation college students who are academically prepared for college. Federal student aid has made college possible for students from all backgrounds for 40 years. Add a federal deinvestment in student aid to rising institutional cost pressures and growing student need, and you've created a recipe for financial disaster for students and their families.

Sincerely, 

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: "Public Universities Chase Excellence, at a Price," Dec. 20

To the Editor:

A major consequence of the skyrocketing enrollment of high-income students at public universities ("Public Universities Chase Excellence, at a Price," Dec. 20) is that private institutions are increasingly the educator of first choice for needy students.

In four of 12 states recently surveyed by the U.S. Department of Education -- Connecticut, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Indiana -- median family income was lower for students attending four-year private colleges and universities than for their peers at four-year flagship public institutions. This is a statistic unimaginable 10 years ago.

Nationwide, according to the Education Department, private colleges enroll virtually the same percentage of students with family incomes below $50,000 as public universities. We also educate higher percentages of minority students, and students with characteristics that put them at greatest risk of not graduating.

Far from being bastions of privilege, private colleges and universities are serving students from all backgrounds and the public good.

Sincerely, 

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: "Higher ed faces bigger woes than president search," Nov. 25 (Higher education's nonprofit status)

Wick Sloane ("Higher ed faces bigger woes than president search," Nov. 25) misses that higher education's nonprofit tax status benefits students and the public good. It allows donors to claim a federal tax exemption for gifts given to higher education, many of which go to scholarships for needy students.

Philanthropic giving, endowments and other non-tuition revenue allow private colleges and universities to subsidize one-third of the total cost of providing an education, even before institutional aid is considered.

Without their nonprofit status, independent institutions could no longer provide the large grants, small classes and quality education that make a private college the right choice for millions.

Our students receive nearly five times more grant aid from their colleges than from federal sources. We enroll the same percentage of needy and minority students as public four-year universities, but graduate them at a far higher rate.

Private colleges employ nearly a million people, and have a cumulative impact of more than $340 billion on their local economies. Our institutions instill community service in students and serve as centers of cultural and social life in their neighborhoods. Without the federal tax exemption, this would be lost.

Sincerely, 

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities