The Daily O’Collegian

Try to choose where you’re born. College students are discriminated against every year in the form of out-of-state tuition.

There is no difference in the type of education students receive while attending a university in a different state. So why do students from different states pay an average of three times as much in tuition fees?

The tuition is a toll gate for entering another state, keeping those unable to pay out.

Students from outside the state are paying for something other than an education. Universities are funded through federal and state grants, donations, student fees and tuition. Tuition is the largest means of income that universities do not have limited control over.

Institutions manipulate the extra fee for any reason they want, giving reasons that the additional fees go toward helping the general welfare of the community and students. Students from other states are paying to better the community for another state’s university.

A university’s board of regents establishes the cost of tuition after receiving proposals from the university’s administration. Typically regents try to maintain the average out-of-state tuition cost of the conference their school belongs to.

With no national standard for out-of-state fees every college differs in what they charge in the tuition.

Some colleges have almost eliminated it completely in order to attract more students. Others use it to ensure a place for in state students to have the opportunity to go to college. Why would universities want in state students when they receive three times as much from out-of-state students?

Generally universities have policies for reducing the cost of the higher tuition for students receiving better scores on standardized test. At the same time, students from within the state can earn lower test scores and pay less for the same education. This mocks the universal idea of receiving opportunities for academic merit.

The National Center for Education Statistics said in 2004 an average of 2,134,000 students enrolled in college in their home state; while 442,000 students enroll in out-of-state institutions. 25 percent of all students go to outof- state institutions.

This data implies that one out of four students is paying almost three times as much for the same education as the other three who happened to attend in state institutions.

Some students have no option of going to another state for college because they cannot aff ord the tuition at their own public universities. Those that can afford in-state education are forced to use loans to make up the difference to go to another state.

Schools should be concerned with how well their students are academically, instead of where they are from. They could use the option of raising standards for admittance.

Encouraging students to be more qualified to pay less is already an option for reducing costs through scholarships. The new aspect would require higher test scores for everyone seeking admittance.

Out-of-state tuition needs to be stopped. To eliminate this tuition we need to use colleges that are part of reduced cost programming or that have eliminated this fee. We can also try to get involved in programs used to reduce the tuition cost for students from certain states or counties.

California State University is one university that has become involved in a program that reduces cost of tuition to students from the states of Washington, Oregon, Montana and a dozen other states. Minnesota has reciprocity programs that allow this option for students to some northern states and Canada. Other programs such as the Midwest Student Exchange program off er similar options.

Wisconsin Senator Ted Kanavas has said that “in state” students will get an education and stay, putting more economy back in the state. But, aren’t most students that move to institutions subject to the same jobs that in the state students are through similarities with internships in some jobs areas.

Graduating students go through the same job market and compete for the same jobs. Students who paid extra to go to a college outside of their state are sometimes forced to rely on higher paying jobs to support the money lost in additional tuition.

Post-secondary education is necessary for higher paying jobs no matter what state the jobs are in. New technology is one of the many costs colleges must afford.

Computers and new technology must be updated as often as possible for universities to compete for students to attend. College tuition increases almost every year. The increase triples for the students paying out-of-state fees. The United States is built on ideas of equal opportunity, not opportunity at a price.