Have you ever stopped to think about how tuition hikes are calculated? I didn’t. That is, I didn’t until the fee increase for international students was astronomical.
I started hearing rumblings a couple weeks ago that the fees for international students increased by 35% for next year (which begins with the May semester). This is not good, but in the grand scheme of things, we’re trying to get the new library built, and we have the sea cable (internet access at somewhat reasonable speeds!)… point being that while the international student fees are always a bit higher (for reasons unknown), I honestly didn’t see this as huge. I’m still paying less for the semester than I would for a class in the US, and that includes tuition, room, and board. I do appreciate that it’s a burden for many of my African friends, and that does concern me.
Turns out that this monster fee increase came about because of the exchange rate fluctuations. All international students pay fees in US Dollars, and apparently the current rate has caused havoc on our fees.
All this background is leading to the fact that we had a meeting today with the administration to address the issue. That was rather interesting. Let’s leave it at that. They came to discuss, not to propose solutions. *sigh*
Please pray for provision for my African brothers and sisters. My fees increased about $400; I don’t know that the bachelor’s fees increased that much, but it’s still a tremendous burden for them.
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