Live It, Not Give It

Dear Current Drexel University Student,

Do you feel that you pay too much to attend Drexel? If so, you are among the 96% of students who do. This is a petition designed to lower Drexel’s tuition, which, with room and board, accumulates to over $59,000 in the 2011-2012 school year. Please view the video linked below, and read further to find out why you should help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SnXj99tdpM

Drexel is a large private university in a prime east coast city that is quickly gaining recognition. According to Business Insider, these factors allow Drexel to charge the highest payed tuition in America, averaging over $40,000 per student and annually increasing at a rate of 4.5%.

A decent portion of the immense amount of money Drexel makes each year is currently put towards construction and expansion. This includes renovation of old buildings, construction of new facilities, and new dorms due to the overflow housing situation that has reached its peak in the 2011-2012 school year. If Drexel was more selective with their application process by having higher standards, the building of more student housing could be avoided and Drexel could become a more respected university by being more competitive and putting out a higher rate of successful students.

Also, the financial aid and scholarship opportunities Drexel offers are mediocre at best. In the current budget proposal, Drexel passed over 30 million dollars dedicated to construction alone. Constantine Papadakis earned the highest college president salary in history, at $4.9 million. If some of this money was invested in developing and sponsoring new scholarships, more aspiring students from less than fortunate homes might find Drexel education possible. Charlie Bittermann’s scholarly article “Reducing Tuition Costs, Civilly,” proposes an idea to reduce tuition in colleges by offering coupons to promising students who cannot afford the school of their choice (in this case Drexel University). These coupons could be redeemed through acts of community service, among others.

Then there is the tuition itself. Drexel’s high tuition is often times the only factor that turns away students who could potentially make great contributions to the world. In addition, plenty of current students and their families struggle to pay tuition, making an unfair amount of sacrifices in order to send their children to Drexel. Annamaria Andriotis’ article “6 Colleges Cutting Tuition” talks about Cabrini college, which is a private school located outside of Philadelphia. They cut their tuition by 12.5% and intend to keep it that way. The school is now doing better than ever, despite the fact that its location is similar to Drexel’s. Drexel should consider either cutting tuition or slowing down the rate it increases by being more selective, not spending as much, and considering that although it is in a prime location, charging as much money as it does just isn’t necessary.

In today’s current economy, the amount of aspiring individuals that cannot continue their education due to cost is greater than ever. In the words of scholar Shin Jung, “Students with true talent shouldn’t suffer.” Sign this petition and do yourself and a world the favor by helping lower Drexel’s tuition. Live it.

Sincerely,

Live It Not Give It: Zakk Cervini, Despina Costales, Kevin Lazaroff, Charles Cramer, and Phil Panuccio

Sources:

Andriotis, Annamaria. "6 Colleges Cutting Tuition." 6 Colleges Cutting Tuition. Web. 22 February 2012.
Bittermann, Charlie "Reducing Tuition Costs, Civically. " Policy Studies Journal 36.4 (2008): 669- 670. ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Bowie, Johnson, Robert Brehm, Rebecca Clothey, Paul Hirshorn, and Katherine
McCain. "Drexel Budget Proposal 2012." Drexel University. 24 May 2011. Web. 10 Feb. 2012.
Cramer, Charles. Drexel Student Survey. Survey. 22 February, 2012.
"Drexel University." College Navigator. Dec. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2012.
Ressner, David. "The Real Cost of Attending an Expensive East Coast University." The College Solution. 10 Mar. 2011. Web. 11 February 2012.
Shin, Jung. "Student Response to Tuition Increase by Academic Majors: Empirical Grounds for a Cost-related Tuition Policy." Springer Link. 22 July 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.
University, Drexel. "Drexel University Undergraduate Tuition & Fees." Drexel University. January 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.