By MARISSA JANKOWSKI and SANDI SINNER
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
“If you don’t have this money paid within the next two months, you will not be able to attend the University of New Haven in the fall.” Not only are we all stressed about our grades with midterms coming up, but I have a hold on my financial account in which I was threatened if I don’t have this money paid, I would not be able to continue being a student here at UNH. Throughout high school it is a dream of many to attend this University, but many hopes and dreams are shot down when they find out how expensive it is to attend.
There is a certain line that is drawn in which the school and government looks at, that measures your parents income; and if they make even a fraction over this line, then their child will receive practically nothing in financial aid. But, if one household makes below this line, their child will receive all the financial aid in the world, and it’s not fair to those families who have parents that actually have decent jobs and are what you call, “working for a living.” Nothing for nothing, but what people don’t understand is, in some cases, what if families just above the line, are working so hard to put one or more children through college on top of all of their bills.
Approximately 85% of UNH’s full time undergraduate students receive some type of financial assistance in the form of academic and merit scholarships, grants, and manageable student loans but that still only takes away so much money. They also offer a very small amount of on campus jobs as work study. These jobs are open to everyone and are a first come first serve so people who need these jobs who are struggling with paying for their student loans are cast aside.
The cost of books here at the University of New Haven, is another huge issue within students. Not only do we pay almost 48 grand to go here, every semester we have to drop hundreds of dollars on books that many professors don’t even use throughout the entire semester. We are wasting our money, and when we go to return these books back to the UNH book store, we are ripped off and in most cases will get $10 back on a book in which we spent $90 on, and that’s even if they let us return the books. The only other option is to rent the books but even then the prices are very high and they give very little options to get them as an E-book to lower those fees.
Even after financial aid, and student loans, we are STILL paying an arm and a leg, just to attend the University of New Haven. I am a freshman now and if I continue to attend here, I will be paying back my student loans, for the rest of my life. Though UNH is a private school, there is no in state or out of state tuition difference. Everyone just about, has to pay the same amount to attend. If you live in the same state as the college you attend, you should be able to have at least deference somewhere, whether it is free books or pay less in your tuition. I mean if you’re going to practically give a free college education to the students who live in the city of West Haven, you should do something for those students that live in the same state, or even just attend your college!
A lot of the tuition we have to pay for is for things that do not even go to any of our schooling. This University is using OUR money to pay for their advertisements of the school. The admissions wastes our money to make copies of pamphlets, give away free things to incoming students and the summer books we are required to read. So our money that we pay to attend this school each semester is used to make our school look good and get more incoming freshman. The “general fees” we are charged with provide a partial contribution supporting essential infrastructure, facilities and institutional services necessary to promote student learning. The fees cover access to infirmary and counseling services and supports student government and club activities. These general fees are charged for each semester in which a student enrolls.
A lot of students who come to the University of New Haven pay these absurd prices because of their highly recommended majors like Fire Science, Criminal Justice and Marine Biology. The programs here like the Living and Learning Community, or the LLC, and the hands on classes as freshman draw people’s attention but are these worth the price to go here? I know a lot of people who have left after their first semester here because the prices were too high and their families could no longer afford it anymore. The average indebtedness of 2011’s Graduates was $42,600 and the price of tuition keeps getting higher and higher. How much are we going to owe?
