By SAMANTHA SARACINO
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - College tuition is on the rise across the U.S.
Ten years ago, an education at the University of Tennessee would cost you $3,784 per year. Now it costs $8,396 for in-state tuition, no living costs included.
"I would pay whatever is necessary to get my education. However as prices continue to rise, it's making it harder and harder and less feasible to pay that amount," said UT senior Lauren List.
She's an enterprise management major who's been paying for college on her own since she started four years ago.
Scholarships like the lottery scholarship, officially called the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship, have helped List survive. "It's a make or break it for a lot of families. You have to have it if you don't want to come out completely in debt," she said.
School officials say 99% of college freshmen qualify for the $4,000-per-year scholarship, but only about 60% retain it.
Benchmarks need to be met in order for students to keep the scholarship. "There are different GPA requirements as they progress. Of course they need to maintain the enrollment level in which they received the award so if they applied as a full time student, they must stay a full time student," said UT Assistant Director for Scholarships Timothy Woods.
Scholarship or not, tuition increases are making it harder to afford an education. During the last four years, the state has cut UT's budget by 30%. That's about $60 million.
The decrease in state funding is the main reason for the increase in tuition.
"Those cuts on the faculty side were really dead impact on the quality of education because it cut back the number of courses we could offer for students," explained Chris Cimino, vice chancellor of finance and administration at UT.
"When you cut back on courses, then they can't get the courses they need. They stay here longer," Cimino added.
To maintain the quality of education, UT is raising tuition and putting the extra money back into the classrooms.
"It can be operations in maintenance costs, such as utilities. It could be faculty salaries. It could be fringe benefits for faculty and staff," Cimino said.
Last year, tuition for an in-state UT student cost $7,382 and for an out-of-state student, it was $22,720. This year, the cost has risen to $8,396 for in-state students and $25,538 for out-of-state.
The University of Tennessee isn't even the worst when it comes to increases. Take a look at Georgia and Clemson, two universities UT calls "peer institutions." Georgia costs $9,472 for in-state and $27,682 for out-of-state. At Clemson, it's $12,304 for in-state and $28,826 for out-of-state.
"We're always viewed as one of the best institutions, but also one of the cheapest," said UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek.
"We're at a tipping point. We can continue to go up or we can begin to drop down. We've got to continue to move forward, and tuition is part of that moving forward," Cheek added.
Many students say it's worth the money to be at UT, but that doesn't mean it's not hard to afford.
"Going to college has wiped myself and my family clean. It has wiped us out so. It's hard. I don't know how people sent more than one kid through college at the same time," Lauren List said.
