Editorial | Curbing Tuition Increases

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, July, 2006

Want to get a sense of the challenges students and parents have faced in recent years trying to cope with rising college costs? Just listen to Pennsylvania State University officials celebrating the supposed restraint of bumping up tuition rates by only 5.6 percent this year.

Of course, Penn State president Graham Spanier could point to fiscally befuddled New Jersey for evidence that his undergraduates caught a slight break by comparison. On the other side of the Delaware River, New Jersey public higher-education's flagship - the Rutgers University system - will issue tuition bills soon that reflect a troubling 8 percent hike.

The two states are moving in opposite directions, in fact, when it comes to support for their public universities.

Continuing a...