Housing and tuition costs: Too much for students?

By NICK WORT
Staff Writer

IU South Bend’s tuition and housing rates have slowly increased the last two years, creating mixed reactions and financial worry among some students.

According to the IUSB website, the current cost of tuition is $207.55 per credit hour. This is a $2.94 increase from last year’s tuition rate, and a $57.84 increase from the 2011-12 rates. For students taking 15 credit hours per semester, this equals $3,113.25 a semester. Though less expensive than IU Bloomington’s tuition, which is $4459.40 per 15 credit-hour semester according to their website, many students still feel this rate is too high.

“No, it’s not fair,” said Rane Troyer, a student living in campus housing. “I mean, I know we’re getting our education, but we’re growing up still and we can’t afford that, and if we want to go to college, the time we spend at college doing homework and stuff is going to take a lot of time. We’re not going to have as much time to work and actually get money, so we’re going to end up being in a lot of debt once college has ended.”

But not everybody agrees.

“It’s a fair price,” said Lily Jimenez, another IUSB student. “Obviously, it would not hurt to cost less, especially for those that live in housing, because we do pay more,” she added.
And some students do make the decision to live in housing for some–or all–of their time at IUSB.

According to the IUSB website, the cost of living in River Crossing Campus Housing is from $2,899 per semester (for a shared four bedroom apartment) and $4,382 per semester (for a single bedroom private dorm). This is a slight increase from last year, when the price range was between $2828 and $4274.

Some students also felt that these rates were too high.

“It’s nice to be able to just walk over, but you can find housing just as close,” said Kelsey Carmack, a River Crossing resident. “I know people who literally live right by the river and it’s the same walk. I’ll probably just live in an apartment next year.”

Troyer said that there have been quality issues in campus housing.

“A lot of the chairs, carpet, and curtains are stained,” Troyer said, “and the walls have stains on them. It’s not in the best condition it could be in, and we pay a very large amount to actually live in these dorms. So, for it to be that expensive and for them to not keep up with the living standards you should be used to, it’s not really fair.”

Not all opinions on housing and housing costs were negative, however.

“For me, compared to other schools, it’s fair,” said Madison Hofferth, another resident of River Crossing. “For the most part, it’s definitely worth it.”