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November 1, 2002

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$24,000 question presents
new price, no easy answer

The $24,000 question isn’t a new one - I remember when it was a $16,000 question.

“I pay $24,000 a year to go here, so why can’t I…?” students ask again and again - whether their requests are reasonable or not.

The impact of the $24,000 question has dulled over time, though, as it has become a hyperbolic cliché for anything gone wrong. It has turned into a McQuestion in a fast-serve world, zooming to the bottom line without regard to increments - a $24,000 price paid, supposedly, for each: the perfect parking spot, 24 hour access to everything, the right to move to campus early, and at its most absurd, the right to vandalize and not be held accountable.

As a result, it has lost its oomph, and often falls on deaf ears.

That’s too bad, because students should have high expectations for what they pay - whether for space in the classroom, a quick response when they report a leaky faucet in their dorm room, or a warm, nurturing campus environment. A Trinity education isn’t cheap.

But the price tag comes back to haunt. While students are wanting their money’s worth in $24,000 doses, administrators find themselves at the blunt end of the $24,000 question - often on tight budgets and with minimal staff - asking their own question: “For the resources I have to work with, how can I fulfill these demands and expectations?”

For University staff, the challenge is to keep the $24,000 question from becoming a $30,000 question. To compete for students, universities are engaged in a war of amenities, thus driving costs and expectations higher.

Students are not just seeking the best education, but see themselves as customers looking for the best workout facilities, HBO, and the fastest Internet connections. All of which cost money.

Most faculty members cringe when the terms education and customer service are used in the same sentence. They should.

It is a mistake to think that an education is purchased rather than earned or experienced. This is true outside of the classroom as well. A student stumbling from office to office - missing deadlines, not following procedures, and asking for exceptions - is learning little about functioning post-Trinity.

For University staff, the challenge is to keep the $24,000 question from becoming a $30,000 question. To compete for students, universities are engaged in a war of amenities, thus driving costs and expectations higher.

This can lead to the frustration that drives the $24,000 question. A college campus presents an odd setting, where a person pays an exorbitant price, only to occasionally be told “no” and be slapped in the face with a fine, a disciplinary sanction, a failing grade, or even a crummy roommate.

Indeed students are not paying for a perfect finished product, but for an education that includes learning tough lessons. It’s a four-year relationship, and like any other, will have highs and lows.

And so the $24,000 question makes it too easy to ignore the complexity of that relationship. When the University comes up short, students need to tell us, and tell us why. But the $24,000 question, more and more, just falls with a thud. It started happening $8,000 ago.

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