The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/tuition/)
For prospective students from New York State, navigating Cornell’s private and in-state colleges may be daunting — The Sun spoke with in-state first-year students about their recent experiences in applying to Cornell’s contract colleges.
When the Supreme Court decided Biden v. Nebraska, which declared President Biden’s loan forgiveness program unconstitutional, I am sure it was to the frustration of many around the nation and especially here at Cornell that loans are expected to be repaid. While borrowers groan at their financial constraints, there are few who ask why they have these loans at all. Yes, an obvious answer may be that they cannot afford to pay $88,150 a year, the cost of a Cornell degree. But that only answers the surface level question; it does not address why one needs a Cornell degree, or any degree for that matter. The deeper question being proposed is what the purpose of a university is.
Students are continuing to experience delays in their financial aid packages, leaving some uncertain about their ability to afford attending this fall.
Why did Cornell choose to raise tuition at a time when many are experiencing stiff financial hardship; why is the University’s financial aid lower than all of its Ivy League peers? Amid concerns about the true value of a college degree in the era of “Zoom University,” School of Industrial and Labor Relations Prof. Ronald Ehrenberg, who studies how institutions of higher education operate, explained the nuances behind some of these questions.
With tuition due on Sept. 7, some students have yet to receive their financial aid packages.
The only way for Cornell to stem this trajectory of disillusionment and injustice to financially disadvantaged students is to do everything it can to discount our tuition.
From now until Nov. 1, Cornell students will have another place to complain about their college experience besides their friend group chats and social media. The New York State Senate is hosting a series of open public forums across the state to collect comments for future higher education legislation.
Presidential candidate and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) — a staunch advocate for cutting tuition costs — congratulated the University in a Facebook post for “doing what once seemed like an impossible dream.”
What followed the Board of Trustees announcement about the the 2020 fiscal year budget and the corresponding 3.6 percent tuition hike? An implicit announcement aimed at members of the Class of 2020: their tuition has increased 11.5 percent since they committed to the Red. The University boasted that this tuition rise was the smallest in recent years. This year’s increase comes in at $6 less than last year’s raise — that’s a single venti coffee with a shot of espresso at Cornell Dining, to put things in perspective. Maybe Cornellians should consider themselves lucky.
I am a proud Cornellian. As a second-semester senior, I can easily say that I have experienced the roller coaster of ups and downs that virtually every Cornellian before me has felt. Regardless of what highs and lows this school has brought me to, I truly believe that this school, and the students in it, are a testament to what an elite education can do for both the individual and society as a whole. Cornell is, quite simply, a remarkable institution, with brilliant professors and students. Unfortunately, the university’s administration is a great stain on an otherwise incredible and noble history. In past columns, I have described the problems with the administration’s compulsive spending and inattention to the needs of lower-income students.