Prices

- meal plans

- scholarships

- maybe no child left behind

- G.I. Bill (war on terror bill)

- Summer classes and hours of library, payment for printing

How much do you pay for college?  We're not just talking about tuition, but what about all of the collateral expenses such as for parking, meal plans / food, dormatories / appartments, etc.  The cost of college these days is rising astronomically and as such, are we getting more/all of the benefits?  No, instead we seem to be paying more for the collateral expenses associated with college.  Is it fair that if you buy a textbook at the beggining of a semester, take perfect care of it, and only receive half of the price of which you initially bought it for at the end of the semester?  Why does the bookstore feel it necessary to turn a profit, and furthermore, whom receives the revenue from this?  Universities, more specifically State Schools, seem to have a misconception that they are anything but a non-profit organization.  Disregarding the book store, part of what we pay for are the fascilities such as libraries, necessarily to obtain adequately raise our level of knowledge to complete course assignments.  If this is so, doesn't the university have the obligations to provide these fascilities to students while classes are in session?  If this is so then why is the Library closed on weekends while Summer courses are in session?  With as much as we pay for college is it right that we are still charged even the smallest expenses such as paying for the paper when we print something out off a computer?  No, College is far too expensive, both directly as well as indirectly for students to turn a blind eye to these injustices.

Have you ever thought about how expensive college is in terms of just the cost of living associated with attending college?  College students face all the financial burdens of those not in college but don't have the ability, for obvious reasons, to seek full time employment.  Even with this, stipulated college Financial Aid Systems only factor in the ability of the student to pay tuition and not the students ability to support themselves.  Even government agencies have recognized these vast collateral expenses of attending college.  This is best seen when last month President Bush passed a new G.I. Bill which not only pays for a Veteran's tuition, but also allocates to the individual money for books, and living expenses every month.

Ani- Even for out of state students, even if they live in Florida and attend college in Georgia, tuiton rises almost 200%. That is without the collateral expenses they are dealing with. I think that college should also pay for some of the plane tickets for out of state students as they do with some study-abroad programs. As a student in Purdue, i had to deal with paying for the plane ticket to chicago or indianapolis AND the bus which takes you to west lafayette, which is the location of the campus 1 hour away from either chicago or indianapolis. With all the advances in air-travel happening after 9/11 the students security should be a concern of the university unti he/she reaches their home city.