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SU’s rankings on lists chronicling the best colleges in the United States have fallen consistently for six years. In fact, Forbes listed SU at 108th while Wall Street Journal listed it 164th, 20 spots below last year’s rank, discrediting SU’s general reputation. Even with the many perks of going to school here, the true benefits of this university are overshadowed by students’ struggles.

As this narrative develops, it’s difficult to justify how much we are paying in tuition. The cost of attendance at SU was recently reported to reach $65,528, roughly $20,000 above the national average, drowning many students in almost $300,000 of debt post-graduation. Outside of adjustments to account for inflation, many parents, students and potential applicants are left wondering where their money is actually going.

Only a fraction of SU tuition is allocated toward extracurricular activities per request of the organization — of which SU has accumulated more than 300. But being such a densely populated school, availability is limited, leaving some students left out of an organization they were hoping to join. Those who can participate may have to pay an entry fee, while others will likely participate in fundraisers and other benefits to financially support their club. With such high tuition, SU-sanctioned clubs deserve increased monetary backing.

The dining halls echo with complaints of students who can’t stand another day of limited options. Not even two weeks after the first move-in day for the 2024-25 school year did SU find itself amid a protest, where dining hall employees rallied on Comstock Avenue seeking higher wages and improved working conditions. It’s shocking to think that in 2015, Ernie Davis dining hall was ranked 19th on a list of the top 36 dining halls in the nation.

Not only do these discrepancies leave students unsatisfied, but the employees behind the scenes of campus dining halls feel underrepresented and overworked. Our financial obligation to SU should be enough to properly compensate for the hard work of our staff.

After weeks of dining hall food and sweaty fraternity parties, SU students are, inevitably, going to turn to the Barnes Center at The Arch for recovery. Pet therapy, a pool, the three-story gym and on-site pharmacy are all noteworthy resources to have, but beyond self-service options, the Barnes Center can find itself at the bud of frustration.

The fitness classes such as Barre, Pilates and Cycle are offered one to two times per week and typically fill up before all interested parties can register. College is already stressful enough. Finding an enjoyable physical outlet with scheduling ease shouldn’t be another roadblock for students.

Those who live on the Mount can get in their workout just by climbing up the stairs back to their dorm. Flint and Day Hall are in a rather unfortunate location, but even the 123 step staircase it takes to get there does not discredit them entirely. Boland, Brewster and Brockway Halls, otherwise known as BBB, are considered by many to be the worst residence halls, as they neighbor the highway and are among the few still burdened by communal bathrooms.

Illana Zahavy | Design Editor

Instead of renovating some of these lower-quality, pre-existing dorms on campus, SU has decided to fund new housing for students. Orange Hall, the Marshall and the Skylar have all been purchased and remodeled within the last three years. Between the 21 residence halls and 1,100 apartments on campus, SU wrestles with housing its number of enrollments. Not only does this constant expansion pull focus away from current students, but it also clouds SU’s ability to make their needs a priority.

In addition to these new dorms, SU has launched plans for a new athletic center. Director of Athletics John Wildhack referred to the construction as a “critical step toward the creation of an academic and athletic village for every SU student-athlete,” but the $1 million cost of the project says otherwise. The university continues to take on these large, financially demanding endeavors to accommodate our number of students, when what they should really be focusing on is the students and facilities it already has.

Even more concerning, it appears to be more strenuous to get an appointment with one of SU’s professional mental health providers than the Pilates instructor. It’s rare to find an appointment less than two weeks out, assuming that your schedule allows for the limited time slots available. In fact, most counselors don’t have openings for more than a month. There are urgent care offices about 15 minutes off-campus, but it’s unlikely that undergraduates can afford copays on top of their pre-existing financial obligations.

Course rigor at SU is advertised to prepare students for their future careers. But aside from the implementation of integrated learning majors and frequent career fairs held by the university, the reality of education is inaccessible professors, teaching assistants who are barely older than the students themselves and extra fees for private tutoring. Resources meant to aid students in their pursuit of a degree only tack on more dollars to their growing debt to the university.

Our professors do not make much more than those of the average U.S. university instructor, if at all. Our dining halls are not drastically any better or worse; and the same is true for fitness resources. With all of this in mind, the destination of such a hefty bill is truly a mystery.

As of now, it appears that SU is taking on a heavier student body than it can handle, diluting its academic standards and normalizing general inaccessibility for the students currently enrolled. Normalizing such a high cost of enrollment and allowing it to continue to grow is a disservice to those who devote so much of themselves to an education and experience here. If SU wants to continue increasing its tuition, it is instrumental to the school’s national standing and student outcome that the resources it offers live up to the cost.

Savannah Grunmeier is a freshman triple major in policy studies, english and law, society and policy. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at sggrunme@syr.edu.

Published on October 2, 2024 at 12:30 am