Tennessee Tuition Found Too Expensive

Tuition at Tennessee’s state universities will likely rise dramatically next year, given that the schools will have at least a 10% cut in state funding. That’s on top of college costs that a new study says are already much too high.

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that in Tennessee, poor and working class families with someone in college spend 1% of their income on tuition, room and board-after financial aid. That’s actually one of the lowest percentages in the nation right now, but it’s still high enough that the state earned an F in affordability.

Center President Pat Callan says the problem is that college costs rise dramatically when the economy is bad. He suggests states adopt a new kind of policy that would take better advantage of good times.

“Raise tuition when family income is going up, get state appropriations that are higher than the rest of the state budget when they can do that, but would say in tough economic times, to the extent they have to take their share of cuts they tighten their belts and manage their way through the bottom of the business cycle like everyone else and don’t just pass the pain along to students and families when they can least afford it.”

Many states, including Tennessee, have increased the number of students who are academically prepared for college. But Callan says there won’t be similar improvement in college enrollment unless tuition is affordable.