Before Gov. O?Malley and the state legislators made tuition at the University System of Maryland “affordable,” they should have defined what that word means ? and for whom.
For the third year in a row, in-state undergraduate students throughout its 11 universities will pay the same rate, thanks to an increase in funding from Maryland taxpayers.
According to O?Malley, the freeze means Maryland?s system drops from the sixth-most-expensive state system in the nation to the 16th.
That?s great ? for the 106,444 in-state students and their families.
But what was so unaffordable about being ranked sixth? Maryland has the highest median household income and the fifth- highest per capita income. If anything, it seems like a lopsided ranking.
Those who make more can afford to spend more ? especially on something so important as education.
As we have noted before, common sense says unaffordable tuition should mean fewer students able to attend. That is not the case. Enrollment is reaching historic levels and even increased when tuition was raised under former Gov. Robert Ehrlich?s administration.
Freezing italso indiscriminately helps the rich along with the poor. Targeting those who can least afford to attend college with financial aid expands access to education. Helping those who can afford to pay tuition just subsidizes those who don?t need it and hurts the rest of us.
It also shows that the so-called budget crisis last year could have been avoided. Spending could have been cut by millions by simply administering a means test to entering students and their families.
Private colleges are increasingly negotiating aid and tuition with students. Maryland can too. Besides, those who attend college get a big payoff on lifetime earnings compared with those who don?t. It is not wrong to ask them to pay for that privilege.
So, Gov. O?Malley, please define “affordable” for students ? and taxpayers. Is it a percentage of the median income? A fixed price? Higher education policy should be based on more than empty rhetoric.
