Dear Editor,
You are right that you can’t put a price on education, [“Can’t put a price on education,” Oct. 10] but it is a privilege, not a right, as you seem to espouse in your article. Countries that provide free education for their students only accept the best into those schools and, believe me, the living standards are quite different (Greece comes to mind).
You are right that your request that the administration work on ways to lower tuition is naive. The administration and faculty spend countless hours on just this issue. I have seen, and you are welcome to see, the budget. Every undergraduate student costs us more in expenses than the tuition they bring in. The University of La Verne is one of the most generous colleges in the nation when it comes to financial aid provided by the University. In terms of federal funds, I don’t see how you cannot think that we are working as hard as possible to provide all the funds available for our students. You remind me of a $500 check I wrote once for a student’s scholarship. The winner happened to be an advisee of mine. When the scholarship came off his loan instead of into his pocket, he felt that he got nothing. Does that incentivize me to give more money to people who expect an education for free?
If you want to educate yourself, take a look at the state budget and where our money goes. California is struggling under onerous worker’s compensation laws as well as other social entitlements that take away from educational grants.
You might also read “The Greatest Generation.” Your grandparents did not complain—they got their education by working several jobs and were thankful for it.
As a 14-year faculty member, forgive me for being offended that our students don’t appreciate the work we are doing to bring their costs as low as possible.
Janis Dietz
Professor of Business Administration
