BU’s tuition hikes impact underprivileged students

In an email to the student body last week, Boston University President Robert Brown announced an overall 3.4 percent cost of tuition increase for the 2016-17 academic year.

The standard tuition at Boston University, $50,240, combined with the $14,870 room and board cost now totals $65,110: the yearly price for a BU education.

While many students understand that tuition hikes at private universities are to be expected, that does not mean that they enjoy paying – especially for a university that seems to already have enough money as it is.

New students of the class of 2018 experience their first BU SPLASH event–a club and event fair at Nickerson Field

The increasing costs of the university are necessary for President Brown’s attempt to rebrand BU as a “new Ivy League school” to match the prestigiousness of institutions across the Charles River, but his plan may be backfiring.

Many are now highlighting BU’s massive price tag over its academic rigor. The emphasis is shifting away from the brilliant, eclectic and diverse student body for which BU is known and instead onto the record expensiveness of a BU degree.

For upper-middle-class backgrounds, the university has been historically accessible, but as prices continue to creep upwards, there is a limit to those students just as qualified for attendance, but lacking the capital to attend college.

Higher education should be dependent on the student’s aptitude, not their ability to pay.