Two weeks back, I saw an ad in The Lantern, the student newspaper on campus requiring Opinion columnists for the Summer term. Having had a penchant for writing (not necessarily a flair for it, though) and being highly opinionist, I saw this as an opportunity to express myself on the big stage. To see your articles appear in the third-largest campus newspaper in the country is a feat every budding journalist would dream of, and the feeling that my views would influence the views of the whole campus seemed so accomplishing.
The selection was based on a sample article that one had to write, choosing from the two topics, due by Friday, May 26 5 p.m.:
1. If elected Ohio's governor, who would better serve Ohio's institutions of higher education - J Kenneth Blackwell or Ted Strickland?
2. Is the proposed 6 percent increase in tuition at Ohio State justified?
Having been in this school for almost a year, I thought I could easily write on the second topic. With a heavy schedule, that turned out to be just another wish. I was racing against time, and with Srivathsan helping me with ideas and editing, I was able to send in the article a few minutes before the deadline. During the next day, I checked my email every 5 minutes to see if the Editor had replied. She finally did, with a comment that my article had 'editorial errors' and that I need to edit and resend my article. With our best efforts, we (I and Vathsa) managed to send the edited article to the Editor by Monday.
After a days' time, I saw another email from her. She had thoroughly reviewed my article and pointed out my errors. I had made a lot of assumptions, and many of the facts were not backed by any research or data. I was taken to task for being superfluous. However, she was happy with my writing skills, and left the decision to me, whether I wanted to take up the job or not.
I thought over it for 2 days, and responded to her that I was ready to take up the job and would careful in future with regard to every word that goes in my articles. Two days later, she did a sudden volte-face and politely refused the offer, she had thrown open just a couple of days back. There I was, within touching distance of a job I had never imagined I would do one day. A classic case of just about there, but not being 'there'.
I am posting the article that I sent to The Lantern. I leave you the task of figuring out the factual errors and assumptions that I made in my quest for being a journalist.
**********************************************************
Is the proposed 6% increase in tuition at Ohio State justified?
Let’s face it! President Holbrook has proposed a 6% increase in tuition fee at OSU; that’s almost $500 more for each student this year. Some students might be relieved to see the hike this year at 6% as opposed to the average increase of 8.5% over the last 4 years. One would ask what justifies this hike. We obviously haven’t seen smarter classrooms, better faculty or even a nominal pay hike at on-campus jobs. And all this in spite of Ohio State having a budget surplus of $50 million and $1.6 billion dollars (huh!) in endowment and Jim Tressel taking home $961 per hour (based on a $2 million annual salary working 40 hrs. a week), while students get paid $7 an hour.
But hold on! Before drawing a premature conclusion, let’s look at the national scenario. Schools across the US have increased their fee this year, and Ohio State is no exception. If Virginia Tech increased their fee by 8.3%, Illinois State University by 14%, WVU by around 7%, UT-Austin increased their non-resident fee by 8%. And, if you think our neighbors in the Midwest suck at fiscal management, then other schools in Ohio are no better, with the University of Cincinnati, University of Akron and Wright State proposing an increase of nearly 6% in their tuition fees.
With national inflation at an all time high of 4.5% and the university facing federal cuts in research expenditure at a time when cutting edge research decides the best university, it is imperative that Ohio State take every measure to ensure not only its survival but also continuation and betterment of research facilities that it is well known for. The recent ranking that put OSU as the 9th best public research university in the country only adds substance to my point. It is true that the state of Ohio has seen mismanagement of government funds and a subsequent increase in taxes but a jobless growth in Ohio and the Midwest can only be tackled with the excellent education and research provided by schools like Ohio State, which will act as an impetus for job creation.
Being the nation’s 3rd largest university with 58,000 students spread across various campuses, our administrative and maintenance costs are definitely higher than some of the smaller schools. Being a university that is 140 years old, renovation of old buildings and construction of new ones is inevitable. These activities require a lot of money and tuition fee is one of the primary sources the school is looking up to make up for the shortfall faced.
With the increasing recurring expenditure of the university and state funding being at a historic low, I do find reason for the hike in the tuition fee. All said and done, I feel that an increase in tuition fee every year across all schools in the US is not a healthy trend. There are more ways an institute of higher learning should learn to sustain itself instead of putting the burden on the students. An affordable higher education is the key to generating more jobs and creating a growth-led economy. It is due to the world-class universities and the top-notch education they provide that the United States is the technology leader of the world, and to maintain this supreme position, we must ensure we truly aren’t “left behind”.
