HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

I have recently received mail from an alumnus of my college, Hamilton College, a small and well-respected liberal arts school in Clinton NY, near Utica in the Mohawk Valley, decrying the constant rise in tuitions at my alma mater---and many other colleges and universities. He is not a lone voice crying in the wilderness.

The cost of education has risen constantly and exponentially, like health care costs, much faster than the cost of living or inflation index, and I think, as in so many area of economics, we are seeing the beginnings of a rebellion---Tea Party action in academia. if you will. I note in the paper today that one of the most respected colleges in the south, Sewanee, formerly the University of the South, is cutting tuition 10% for next year from an astronomical $46,000. $46,000, can you believe it? Hamilton is over $41,000. By the time you add in miscellaneous expenses like room and board you are about $60,000 per annum or $240,000 for the full term of four years.

A letter in the Hamilton newspaper, The Spectator, from another recent alumnus, class of '07, states that his parents paid tuition from 1997 to 2001 for his sister of $121,452 and for him from 2003-2007, $162,635, an increase of $41.095 or up 33.8%!!! In this same issue, a debate is staged in written form on the subject, "Does Hamilton allocate its money wisely?" with the PRO side saying yes, past successes should instill future trust and the NAY side stating no, we should think more critically about how we spend. This is the first time I've seen such a debate occurring on campus, but maybe I'm out of touch.

One of my good friends, a classmate and fraternity brother in college and Life Trustee of the college, the retired chairman of one of the major investment houses, is a zillionaire and has been exceedingly generous to Hamilton, endowing a magnificent music center in memory of his late wife and now proposing a new art museum donated by him and his family. In this debate in the newspaper, the naysayer questions the need for this museum.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Hamilton is a brilliant businessman, A.J. Lafley, the former C.E.O. of Procter & Gamble and credited for the phenomenal success in recent years of P. & G., one of the world's great marketers. I'm sure he is beginning to hear the groundswell from dubious alumni.

I realize that colleges must be state-of-the-art in their facilities and their teachers. I also know that competition among professors can be a real dog fight as they jockey for tenure and titles.
But I am beginning to wonder if building tributes to its own magnificence, unrestrained increases in salaries and increases in staff at colleges and universities should be reexamined in view of today's economics. State schools and public schools are going through traumatic financial convulsions and retrenching.

Isn't it time for independent colleges to bite the bullet and do a financial gut check on where they are? Isn't it time for the students to get a break?