There's a positive and a negative to the 14 percent increaseannounced June 27, and for the most part the negative is forstudents and the positive is for faculty, according to one Englishprofessor.
By increasing tuition and remedying budget problems, "it mightmean faculty will get a raise. If there are no raises some facultymembers who have mobility will probably leave The University tofind other jobs," said English Professor Gene Plunka.
"The big negative, the big burden, is on the students becausethey have raised tuition for the last three years. It will probablymean for some students, The University of Memphis will no longer beaffordable," Plunka said.
And negative is how most U of M students think about the $265increase for instate undergraduate students and $766 increase forout-of-state undergraduate students.
"I don't like it because all the increase goes to students, notthe faculty," business management junior Charlie Mason said.
"I don't like it," said Brad Alan, senior international businessand human performance major. He was going to take 21 hours in thesummer second session but had to drop his plans when he saw thebill The U of M sent him.
Adding to that, having to pay for books and a tuition increase,"It might push me back a semester from graduation," Alan said.
International students are also feeling the tuition pinchespecially those who can only work on campus to pay for theirtuition.
"That's messed up, in most cases I have to register a day beforethe registration deadline," said Hassan Wada, computer engineeringand biology mayor, who said he can only work on campus because ofhis International status.
"If they are going to raise tuition, they need to improve theservices and the quality of those services," Wada said.
International students are not allowed by law to work more than20 hours a week during the regular school year and 40 during thesummer session, according to Arda Beskardes immigration specialistfor The University.
Some undergraduate students who have seen tuition increase forthree years in a row complain that the university system increasestuition while decreasing the quality of The University.
"I love The University of Memphis, but they cut so much out ofit that it seems like we loose a lot of who we are, of what westood for," said Jacki Savell, senior public relations major.
Savell, who works three jobs to pay for her tuition and books,does not understand why the Tennessee Board of Regents, "waitsuntil the last minute to announce the increase."
