Think back to your childhood. For most of us, there was at least one time when our parents gave us a choice in a store. Whether it was candy, toys or anything else, the conundrum was always the same: You can have this or you can have that, but you cannot have both. Sure, kids always try their best to wiggle their way out of those constraints and convince their parents to purchase both options — at least that’s what I remember doing. In the end, however, we had to make a choice between the two options.
Now, I do not know about you, but as I have gotten older I have found that few things have changed since kindergarten. Boys still say the grossest of things to girls to get their attention, everyone still generally wants a nap in the afternoon, fart jokes are still hilarious and, of course, the aforementioned impasse still holds true. Just as our parents tried to tell us while we were throwing gigantic tantrums in the middle of the cereal aisle, you can have one thing or you can have the other, but you cannot have both.
Whether we realize it or not, that age-old conundrum is hindering us to this day.
As I was walking through the halls of HSS not too long ago, I spotted a brightly colored flyer out of the corner of my eye. Normally I just pass by and never give any of these adverts a second look, but I could not help but notice that it was a message from Occupy UTK. Upon further inspection, I noticed that one of their rallying points was supposedly going to be a call for a halt to both budget cuts and tuition hikes. You can stop budget cuts or you can stop tuition hikes, but you cannot stop both.
Now, this demand is not one that is strictly limited to Occupy UTK, so please do not misconstrue this as a pointed criticism. In fact, I have had this exact same exchange with many friends, classmates and instructors over my time at this university.
It is undeniable that, when you strip away the frilly layers of academic achievement and athletic success, this university, like most, is a slave to money. That isn’t a critique. All universities have to get money somewhere. While quite a bit of UT’s funding comes from the state, a substantial amount comes from tuition dollars collected from the students who attend this institution. As economic times have gotten tougher, however, the university, its administration, its faculty and staff and we as a student body have had to deal with the aforementioned dreary choice.
Budget cuts mean that students do not have to see significant increases in their tuition rates. At the same time, however, cuts also mean that faculty and staff lose their jobs, programs get cut and research efforts lose a source of funding.
The alternative, of course, is to raise every student’s tuition. While this means that programs may not have to be cut and instructors may not need to be let go, more money will be required from the students, which, of course, means that more money comes out of savings accounts or higher amounts will have to be borrowed from loan sharks who prey on college students. Current estimates are forecasting that tuition rates will rise five to eight percent next academic year for UTK students.
Is there a middle ground to be found? Sure. You can cut a few things from the budget and have a small tuition hike, but you still have to make decisions as to how much should be deducted from the budget and how much students should have to pay.
The point is that everyone at this university has to take a moment, get with reality and realize that we can avoid budget cuts or we can avoid tuition hikes, but we cannot avoid both. A choice has to be made.
Chancellor Jimmy Cheek could always do the responsible thing and refrain from taking raises to his salary in order to help the university, but that is an issue for another day.
— Derek Mullins is a senior in political science. He can be reached at dmullin5@utk.edu.
