College is a pretty bittersweet pill. On the one hand, you've got your classes, your friends and your social life.
On the other, you've got the monolithic debt you're going to face once you graduate — thanks to inflated tuition, inflated book prices and, of course, inflated housing costs.
Well, the bitter half of that pill just got a little more bite.
The MSU Board of Trustees voted Friday to hike university apartment rates by 5 percent, or an increase of $30 per month, effective fall 2007.
But the real hurt comes in the residence hall prices. Dorm prices will jump $632 a year for new students, a 10.45 percent increase. That makes our increase the highest among Big Ten universities.
We also are the sixth most expensive school for housing in the Big Ten.
Returning students will have to pay an extra $318, a 5.25 percent increase, for the privilege of living in our dormitories.
The official line is these hikes are necessary to remain competitive and, to be fair, are at the whims of inflation in a state with a flatlining economy.
But the simple fact of the matter is that housing, much like everything else college-related, is quickly becoming too expensive.
Students already are coming out of college deep in debt, and drastic increases like these only will serve to financially cripple a group of individuals who is in deep enough as it is.
And while it's entirely plausible that all the costs involved in University Housing have dramatically increased in the last year, it still seems a bit like an opportunistic money grab.
During the past decade, it has become increasingly vital for students to attend college in order to get a decent job after high school. Colleges are entirely aware of this fact, and it seems the more this feeling becomes entrenched, the higher college costs skyrocket. That's fair — it's basic economics. But just because you can jack up housing and tuition rates, it doesn't mean you necessarily should.
Consider this: After the mandatory freshman year stint in the dorms, students flee en masse from university housing to rentals off campus. Sometimes, students move for more freedom and privacy. But as many, if not more, leave because housing is becoming prohibitively expensive.
MSU has one of the biggest campuses in the United States. As such, it would be far more convenient for students to live on campus rather than to rent a house miles away. But they rent anyway. Why? Because they're getting more space for less money.
There is no doubt that as time goes on, housing costs will increase. But massive jumps like this seem unnecessary. We're not getting anything for our extra money.
There are better ways to up revenue without increasing the financial stranglehold on students.
Rate increases are fine, but they should be reasonable. These increases, however, are far from it.
