Columbia Students Plan a Tuition Strike for Spring 2021 Semester

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

More than 3,200 students, parents, faculty, and alum at Columbia University have signed a petition in support of a tuition strike for the spring 2021 semester. The petition, which was started by Columbia-Barnard’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) chapter, outlines several demands that students have for the university, including a 10% reduction in the cost of attendance, a 10% increase in student’s financial aid, and the providing of education, employment, and affordable housing to the larger West Harlem community, where the school is located. Columbia’s YDSA organized for a partial tuition reduction for the fall 2020 semester but was unsuccessful. Becca Roskill, a junior at Columbia and an organizer with YDSA, told Teen Vogue that this semester, students like her realized that a more extreme action was needed to get the university’s attention.

“We realized that when we finally do get a seat at the table with the administration, we want real leverage and power behind us,” said Roskill. “We understand that striking from tuition is a really high-risk action, but a lot of YDSA’s organizing has been having one-on-one conversations with students, and talking about how there’s much less potential for facing retaliation from the university if we all take this risk together.”

A Columbia University spokesperson provided Teen Vogue a statement via email: “Throughout this difficult year, which has entailed serious financial challenges for the university, Columbia has been focused on preserving the health and safety of our community, providing the education sought by our students, and continuing the scientific and other research needed to overcome society’s urgent challenges.” The university did not respond to questions regarding the tuition strike or whether the administration plans on meeting with organizers from YDSA.

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Columbia has consistently topped charts as the most expensive private university in the country, charging more than $64,000 a year in tuition and fees. Tuition at Columbia accounts for nearly a quarter of the school’s revenue, an increase of more than 4% since 2006, illustrating that the school relies on students’ tuition even more now than it has in the past. ​The administration originally planned on increasing tuition rates by 2% for the 2020-2021 academic year, but instead issued a tuition freeze before the start of the fall semester for the university’s three undergraduate schools. However, student organizers with YDSA have compiled data indicating that tuition rates for many of Columbia graduate programs increased by as much as 4.4%. The administration also waived summer tuition for some students to provide more flexibility in light of the pandemic, with two of the three undergraduate programs receiving this benefit.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/columbia-university-tuition-strikes

[jimfields33]

1. 64K is obscene.

Sorry no school is worth going to at that price.

[DFW]

2. 15 years ago, my daughter's school in the USA was $50,000 a year

I blew every last cent of cash I got from my parents' inheritance on my girls' college educations in the USA. I don't regret any of it, especially, since it meant that those who never could have afforded it got a chance at financial aid. $64000 is extreme, but no college ever expects all students to pay that, just the ones that can. Part of that tuition subsidizes financial aid to others. It's odd to hear a demand for reduced tuition AND increased financial aid. That's like the Republicans who want taxes reduced to zero while doubling the money spent on street and bridge repair. Sooner or later, your pocket calculator will go on strike.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

5. Most families pay less at an Ivy (or equivalent) than out-of-state public tuition

Yes. I speak from experience.

A substantial amount of the kids at any Ivy (CU is no exception) are legacies. A substantial amount of those kids are from families in the upper 5%. They are the children of old money, successful doctors and attorneys, hedge fund managers, and the like. Those families pay full price - and are willing to do so, as evidenced by the Varsity Blues scandal. They paid similar prices to send their kids to prep schools like Shipley and Choate, and paid a lot to send their kids to high-end private day school before that.

For families with an AGI of $250K and below, there is a sliding scale. At an Ivy, academic schollies don't really factor in - every kid there is either a legacy or is super-smart (some are both). So if your mom clerks at the grocery store, and dad is doing day labor. the odds are you are going to CU for little to nothing out of pocket - including room and board. If you are making an "average-ish" salary, you'll probably pay the rough equivalent of what you'd spend to send your kid to your state school.

I can say from experience that the Ivies are incredibly generous. They can be. They have been well endowed since the founding of the republic. It would cost most families more to send a kid to virtually any state school for out of state tuition - a lot more. Some states have reciprocity agreements with neighboring states, so there are exceptions. Some states, like Oklahoma and Alabama, offer out of state kids who are National Merit Finalists or who have high ACT scores sweetheart deals. For the most part, though, out of state families pay.

While not as generous as the Ivies, most private, not-for-profit, research universities (who have comparable tuitions) will work with families in need - Tufts, Vandy, U Chicago, USC, Stanford. However, it is a complicated game, and the parents have to learn to play (as do the students). There was a sit-com a few years back called "The Middle." Over a couple of episodes, the daughter Sue Sue Heck fails to realize financial aid has to be renewed every year. It's funny because it's a fictional TV show - but it happens more than you'd think. Also, with private schools, it's not just the federal FAFSA; generally there is a much more extensive short-arm inspection of your family's finances called the CSS profile in which they establish things like whether your family owns a bunch of vacation property.

Finally - because you asked for none of this - I will share my pet peeve, which is (oddly) not high tuition (although - it is a problem). My pet peeve is parents who tell me with a straight face that they don't have the money for tuition, while I'm looking at the loaded 2 year old F-150 and the $75,000 5th wheel trailer in their driveway, or the $50,000 boat. I think you take care of your kids first - but that's just me.

[brooklynite]

3. Columbia would be able to fill every space a striking student created...

...with foreign students paying full price.

[MichMan]

4. So they choose an ultra expensive school and then strike because it costs so much?

Last edited Wed Dec 16, 2020, 07:36 PM - Edit history (1)

Perhaps Logic & Reasoning should be a required course?

[LanternWaste]

7. You're right. Exceptional educations should be out of most family's price range.

Logic, indeed...

[former9thward]

6. It is difficult to have a tuition strike when you are on scholarship.

51% of Columbia students receive scholarships averaging $52,000 a year.

https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/columbia-university-in-the-city-of-new-york/paying-for-college/financial-aid/#:~:text=51.0%25%20of%20freshmen%20(734%20total,for%20about%20%246%2C079%20a%20person.