Tuition is going to skyrocket for the average student in the next three years—all because of some great master plan developed in the dungeons of Lowden Hall. This plan tries to masquerade the real cost of an average student’s tuition. Most students come to this university and take what is considered a full class load—15 hours. The administration tries to hide the increase for students by saying that tuition only will increase by 10 percent.

What NIU President John La Tourette fails to make clear is the fact that the 10 percent increase is only if you’re taking less than 12 hours. For the average degree on this ludicrous plan, however, it would take a student a little more than five years to graduate. With room and board considered, the cost of staying at NIU with the tuition increase is insulting at best.

The administrators had better wake up and understand that NIU is not an Ivy League school. Tuition should match the quality of the degree. If money really is needed, then NIU should consider an alternate route besides singling out undergraduates.

The vicious cycle continues as classes are cut, departments are combined and the general quality of education at NIU begins to dwindle. Students are forced to stay against their will at a university that doesn’t care about anything except making money. A university is not a business; it is a place of higher learning, and it should be affordable.

Everyone has suffered from the recession, but not everyone has tightened his belt the way he should.