In response to student protests over a proposed doubling of tuition for the University of the District of Columbia, the school's administration has enacted a new plan meant as a compromise.
The tuition increase is now being spread over two years instead of one, according to Alan Etter, UDC director of public relations.
D.C. residents attending UDC this year now pay $5,370, compared to the $3,770 they paid last year, according to the Washington Post. Next year, this will rise again to $7,000. Students from the Maryland and Virginia suburbs pay $6,300 this year and $8,000 next year.
The original tuition proposal was passed last February and indicated the same price increase over a period of only one year, The Eagle previously reported. Students are much more content with the new, two-year plan, Etter said.
"We were able to impress upon them, that in order to grow this university, we have got to raise tuition," he said. "I mean, you look at any public university across the country. $3,800 is almost laughable."
Rishad General, a sophomore in the four-year UDC university, said that she did not mind the tuition raise because the out-of-state rate she pays is less than at many other colleges.
"When I was going to [a school in Md.] it was $9,000 a year," General said. "Here the tuition isn't even that much, so I don't see why people are complaining."
UDC has also opened the new community college that came from the Board of Trustees' January vote. Because of this addition, UDC's four-year university has also abandoned its open admission policy, according to the Post. Now, students with a 2.0 grade-point average, for example, will need a composite SAT score of at least 2,400.
The two-year community college is separate from UDC's four-year flagship, but the two currently reside on the same campus. Plans are in the works for a separate headquarters building and several satellite classrooms throughout the city, according to Etter.
"Community college has really been the missing educational link in the city for many, many years," he said.
An associate degree program is especially important in a city like D.C. where many students graduate high school without knowing what they want to do next, Etter said. Community college helps bridge the gap, he said.
Some of the courses UDC's new community college now offers include remedial classes and trade classes that were previously taught at the UDC flagship. Among the most respected programs taught are aviation science and mortuary science, Etter said.
Ideally, students will graduate from the community college with their Associate's Degree and then continue on to the four-year university, Etter said.
Along with the new community college, UDC is using its tuition dollars to upgrade buildings that have not been changed in thirty years, Etter said. So far, the school has painted the insides of its classrooms and installed flat-screen monitors in the library.
"There's a greater energy on campus these days because of these changes," Etter said.
However, some students are still resistant to the school's tuition raise.
Leyli Santos, a second year student in UDC's two-year mortuary science program, said the tuition increase is negatively affecting her and many of her friends.
"For example, right now I don't even have the money to buy the books that I need for my classes, so I don't think it's good," Santos said.
Aaron Cohen, a freshman in the School of International Service, said he had no idea of the changes occurring on UDC's campus.
"Sometimes, AU students - myself included - can have our heads so far up in what's happening around the world, what's happening in Germany, what's happening in the Middle East, that we don't stop to think about what's happening in our own neighborhood," Cohen said.
Kate Mills, a freshman in the School of Communication, said she opposed the UDC tuition raise.
"It shouldn't be doubled because obviously people who are going there are used to paying this certain, fixed amount, and if by doubling that, you're asking them to double what they can afford to put out," Mills said.
Despite some complaints regarding UDC's recent changes, the number of applicants to the school had increased as of the beginning of August, according to the Post. Current enrollment for the community college, university and law school is now up to about $5,200, Etter said.
"This is just part of the larger goal to really make UDC a university that [represents] the nation's capital," Etter said. "Thirty years of neglect has gotten it to where it is. What we're trying to do now is to upgrade the facility, upgrade the image, raise the profile of the university and make it really a world-class institution."
Meg Fowler contributed to this story.
You can reach this staff writer at mkendall@theeagleonline.com.
