Editor,
Tuesday’s vote by the Board of Regents to increase UNM tuition yet another 8.3 percent is a travesty. Regents Larry Willard, Judith Herrera, Jack Fortner and David Archuleta — were you listening at all to the group of students outside Scholes Hall? Did you hear the cries of protest? How can you justify raising tuition once again without giving students what they need and deserve?
Every year, the state Legislature makes the Regents fill a hole in UNM’s budget, and every year, that hole is filled out of student’s pockets. This is entirely unfair. I thought UNM’s purpose was to help its students achieve higher education — not thrust them into debt.
Many undergraduates work full or part-time, have children and are responsible for the full cost of their tuition, fees and living expenses so that they may get an education in order to improve their life situations. This is the point of higher education. Every time the Board of Regents votes to increase tuition, it makes it that much more difficult for a self-supporting student to get their degree. A 40 percent hike in four years is absolutely ludicrous. Regents, if the interest rate on your mortgage increased 40 percent in four years, wouldn’t you scream murder?
Do Regent Willard or Regent Fortner ever have to take out short-term, high-interest loans in order to make ends meet during the break between semesters? Do Regent Archuleta and Regent Herrera ever have to choose between buying books and buying groceries that week? Did they ever have to make these decisions while attending college? These are the choices many UNM students have to make. The 8.3 percent they raised tuition for next year may have covered those costs.
Why is it that the first place the Board of Regents looks when it comes up with a shortfall is in the often-bare pockets of students? I call on the UNM Board of Regents to take active steps to figure out a way of filling next year’s hole with something everyone can afford. Just food for thought.
Maggie Toulouse
Undergraduate student
