Students for a Democratic Society is trying to convince the University to adopt a temporary tuition freeze for the 2007-2008 academic year and, in the long run, shift the focus of financial aid packages from loans to grants and scholarships.
Last month, the Corporation approved a 5 percent increase in total undergraduate costs, as well as an 8 percent increase in the financial aid budget.
Members of SDS, a left-wing student activist organization, said they are circulating a petition and seeking to raise awareness about tuition fairness on campus, saying rising tuition and loans place an unreasonable burden on graduating students.
"We have a whole class of people entering the workforce with an insane amount of debt," said SDS member Vale Cofer-Shabica '09. "It's bad for our country's economy. We feel that the people have the right to an education."
Alexander Ortiz '09, another SDS member, said education is "a fundamental right. In order to be upwardly mobile, you have to be able to get a college degree."
The Corporation approved an increase of nearly 40 percent in financial aid programs for international students over the next four years, but SDS members said improving financial aid for needy students in the United States should come first. "The fact that they're shifting more of their money to international students - it's a nice idea, but the University should be taking care of the poor around it before it pulls in people from several thousand miles away," Cofer-Shabica said.
"We should take care of the house first," said SDS member William Pasley '07.
Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, said the University considers many factors in determining tuition levels, including the priorities of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, which includes increasing the number of faculty, improving facilities and improving undergraduate and graduate aid.
"They also look at where Brown's fees are relative to its peers. They look at the financial aid needs, trends and budget," Huidekoper wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
Other schools have only been able to implement tuition freezes by adding expenses elsewhere, said James Tilton, director of financial aid. In January, Princeton University announced a tuition freeze for the 2007-2008 academic year. But at the same time, Princeton increased room and board fees, effectively creating a 4.2 percent increase in total costs for students. Tilton described the tuition freeze at Princeton as largely "symbolic."
Huidekoper also noted that the University keeps students' interests in mind when determining financial aid packages. "We are continuing to look at and refine our financial aid policies and practices to ensure that we maintain our commitment to need-blind and are able to attract the best students," she wrote.
The University has dedicated significant resources to improving financial aid in recent years, including reducing the burden of loans, Tilton said. "In 2002-2003, part of the increase in the financial aid budget was to reduce students' loan debts," Tilton said. "Before then, average student debt was around $21,700. After, it decreased to $16,000."
Tilton said the University's future initiatives are limited by the amount of resources available.
"It all boils down to money," he said. One of the goals of the financial aid office, he said, is to help students better manage their budgets. "I want to go through the full awarding season to get a sense of how policies are going and then make recommendations to the University," said Tilton, who began at Brown in December.
Tilton said he welcomes members of SDS to come to his office for information on financial aid. "Knowing what our policies are will be useful in making comparisons," he said.
William Emmons '09, a member of SDS, echoed Tilton's comments, saying SDS is "open to working with any elements of the administration that can help us become active members instead of passive members."
SDS members said their immediate goal is to raise awareness on campus and that they are circulating a petition to support a tuition freeze, rolling back the 5 percent increase in undergraduate charges already approved for next year. The group said it hopes to gather 5,000 undergraduate signatures and signatures from 1,000 graduate students.
"One of the greatest things the petition can do is raise awareness. One of the big goals of the petition is to let people talk," Ortiz said.
Ortiz said the group's long-term goal is to shift attention in financial aid away from loans to grants and scholarships. "Student debt in this country is staggering, and it's not a democratic or equitable way to access education," he said.
SDS plans to bring up the issue of a tuition freeze and a shift in the focus of financial aid at the next Corporation meeting in May, members said.
Students said the proposed tuition freeze may not be practical, but improved financial aid packages may be more equitable.
"I think it's a good idea to shift loan-based financial aid to scholarship-based financial aid," said Kate Leaird '07. But Leaird said a tuition freeze did not seem to be realistic, given the effects of inflation.
"It's inevitable that tuition costs need to be increased. It seems more equitable to increase by small percentage increments," said Jonathan Bogard '09.
"If after much scrutiny, the University determined it required added funds to expand its current efforts, and assuming financial aid for all students keeps up with costs, then there doesn't seem to be any equity issue," he said.
