President Obama's Tuition Proposal Will Ultimately Hurt Students (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama is making a proposal that would withhold federal money from colleges and universities that are unable to control rising tuition costs, according to ABC News. As a political/business consultant, I cannot stand with the president on this issue as the penalty for the problem would cause a worse problem for students. While the goal of keeping tuition costs down is strong, the end will not justify the means.

President Obama's proposal would target colleges and universities that are forced to raise the price of tuition each year. As someone who has worked with colleges and universities in different capacities in the past, I can tell you this is easier said than done. At times, there are too many issues that cause keeping tuition at a straight rate for more than a few years at a time.

Let's imagine President Obama's proposal becomes practice and you are the president of a major university that has increased tuition each year for the last few years. Your football and basketball teams have not had good years, so enrollment has taken a slight hit.

You know you cannot cut any funding for the sports program or the alumni will trim their donations as they always do for universities that cut sports funding. Next, you have a handful of professors who have reached tenure so they are required to be paid at the next tier. If you do not cut funding, President Obama and his administration will be breathing down your neck.

When you add on the idea of more professors reaching tenure each year, the rising energy costs and the increasing costs of upkeep, where does President Obama expect the institutions to come up with the cuts? In the economic downturn, many families find they have to push off having their children go to college so enrollment is hit hard in some areas. Many alumni find they are not able to contribute what they could before.

Instead of making it harder for colleges and universities, President Obama should be coming up with plans to help them. Instead of threatening to take money from them, maybe the president should work on plans to give breaks to institutions that are having the issues. Threats of withholding money are the easy way out, and they will eventually hurt the students in the end.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120128/pl_ac/10894257_president_obamas_tuition_proposal_will_ultimately_hurt_students

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