YEAR IN REVIEW
Graphic by Briana Tovar/The Ithacan
AS TUITION AT THE COLLEGE CONTINUES TO RISE, S T U D E N T S F I N D T H E M S E LV E S D E E P E R I N D E B T
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BY ELIJAH DE CASTRO
fter the Ithaca College Board of Trustees raised the price of tuition by 3.25% for the 2022–23 school year, sophomore Bianca Sessegolo decided to transfer to Rutgers University. “[At Ithaca College], I’m paying pretty much entirely in loans in my name or in my parents’ name,” Sessegolo said. “Especially since I’m a first-gen student going into college, we didn’t know how to do any of it or how it works, especially in this country. … I don’t know anybody who’s not at least a little bit concerned about their financial future.” Out of the college’s $65,527 annual cost of attendance, $46,610 is for tuition. While the college’s tuition is $8,425 higher than the average $38,185 price tag for American private colleges, the issue is not unique. America is now the most expensive place to go to college on the planet. During the 2020 presidential election cycle, candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren popularized canceling federal student loan debt. Then-candidate Joe Biden joined Sanders and Warren and pledged to wipe out $50,000 in debt for students from families making less than $125,000 and $10,000 for all students. In six figures of debt and three months away from his graduation, senior Will Hugonnet remembers when Biden made this pledge while on the campaign trail. Over one year into his presidency, Biden has still not fulfilled this pledge.
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“If they [the Biden administration] can just shell out so much money to other things like the military, why can’t they take a little bit of that and put it back into educational funding?” Hugonnet said. Under the Higher Education Act, Biden has the ability to cancel student debt through an executive order, which would not require action by Congress. Biden has already used his executive powers to extend the pause on student loan repayments that began under former President Donald Trump as a response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canceling student debt could create up to 1.5 million new jobs, reduce unemployment and increase economic opportunity, according to EducationData.org. “[Student debt] is a big stressor,” Hugonnet said. “Some days you’ll wake up and think about it, but there’s nothing you can do. … It’s a Catch-22 kind of thing where you’re damned if you do but you’re damned if you don’t.” William Kolberg, associate professor in the Department of Economics, said one of the reasons the cost of college has increased in recent years is that college administrations have increased spending for new programs, buildings and services. Kolberg said that at the college, some of these services — like Information Technology and the Center for Counseling and Psychiatric Services — offer benefits to students but raise spending levels significantly. A report by the American Council for Trustees and Alumni found that spending on student services at private colleges increased 32% between 2010 and 2018,
higher than increases on administration and instruction spending for the same time period. “They’re looking around and seeing these other schools that have all this stuff,” Kolberg said. “Every college has to beef up because they’re worried about the other [colleges] beefing up.” While 92% of students at the college receive some form of financial aid, its endowment — which brings in revenue for the college’s financial aid — is declining. A 2021 audit of the endowments of U.S. and Canadian institutions by the National Association of College and University Business Officers found that between the fiscal year 2019 and 2020, Ithaca College’s went from $347 million to $337 million, a 2.91% loss. Hugonnet has been pushed deeper and deeper into debt throughout his time at the college. Junior Adam Coe said that in the past three years he has had to take out loans each year and is splitting the costs of tuition and housing with his parents. “I am in debt like most students,” Coe said. “Thankfully I’m not into too much debt. … I would not be able to afford the school if it was not for my scholarships and the financial aid I received.” The tuition increase for the college was approved at an October 2021 Board of Trustees meeting. After the meeting, the Board of Trustees released an Intercom post explaining the increase. “These increases as well as those from recent years have been conservative within our comparative set of schools, while maintaining investments in the human and capital resources needed to ensure that our
