Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour has been a fighter for Mississippi, particularly after Hurricane Katrina. And while I commend his latest effort in increasing school funding by 7 percent, it seems that his proposal ignores a vital strain of society: college students.
Barbour’s plan is admirable but lacks balance. Mississippi should make sure that grades K-12 are teaching kids how to read, write and answer math problems. However, the state should also tend to the needs of both current college students and those who aren’t able to attend universities.
Of course, you can’t place all the blame on Barbour. State legislators allocate funds and should be held accountable for not focusing enough on higher education. The State College Board is perhaps an even guiltier party. Tuition has been raised for most of the last decade.
The MSU Student Association has at least mentioned the importance of funding higher education. SA President J.R. Love said he-along with the student government presidents from Ole Miss, the University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi University for Women-visited state legislators in October to discuss the issue.
The student presidents talked about higher education funding in general, hoping that a shotgun effect would happen, thereby reducing tuition fees, Love said. My only complaint is that the presidents didn’t specifically target tuition costs. I don’t think the shotgun effect will necessarily happen.
Also, one should note that MSU’s tuition is lower than tuition at most schools in the SEC (I say “most” because I couldn’t confirm “all,” which may be the case). But my argument isn’t about MSU tuition being disproportionate when compared to other schools. Actually, the idea of lower tuition should be applied to all universities.
But let’s focus on Mississippi, which leads the country in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It’s a sociological fact that the impoverished tend to be more involved in crime. With that in mind, more support for higher education should be a no-brainer.
Barbour is taking the state in the right direction by funding our schools at the bottom level. Yet what about the impoverished who can’t afford college now?
If the poor could receive more access to higher education, they could make higher salaries. Census data recently revealed that, on average, adults with bachelor’s degrees earn about $23,000 more than adults with just high school diplomas each year. Also, adults with master’s degrees earn about $50,000 more than adults with high school diplomas each year.
Higher education accomplishes so much. It provides more income, which lessens the tendency of someone committing crime. It opens up the mind, allowing people to see other points of view, often reducing intolerance and discrimination. Therefore, decreased tuition would benefit society as whole, not just the individuals who can’t afford it.
Plus, many college students go into debt to receive their education. Although their dedication is laudable, this phenomenon defeats the purpose of higher education. That is, college should provide financial security, not forward financial insecurity. The state has a responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen-within reason, of course.
It would be unfair not to mention how many students are only able to attend college because of helpful financial aid. My point is there are people who still can’t make the cut, and student loans that foster future debt shouldn’t be as rampant.
Students with concerns about tuition can let their feelings be known to our government. Visit www.mississippi.gov and click on the “Contact Us” link. You can write any government official or agency, including legislators and the College Board.
A common response to these sentiments would be “Well, you forget that a university is a business.” That’s the problem in America. Everything that shouldn’t be a business is a business. Unfortunately, people are willing to submit to this oppressive philosophy.