Brad Weiner, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras, has a new blogpost up at Huffington Post attacking the UPR student strikers and defending the decision to bring police onto campus. There’s already a vigorous debate over his claims beginning to heat up in comments to his post, but there’s one piece of his argument that’s worth looking at in detail.
Weiner writes:
Many of the recent UPR student conflicts have received national and even international attention. As a result, my stateside colleagues invariably have many questions. I always try to carefully explain the issues. Inevitably, I get the following question: “How much do students at the University of Puerto Rico pay for tuition and fees?” My answer: $1200-$1500, depending on the number of credits. Per semester? No, per year. At that point, the discussion usually ends in disbelief because they cannot believe (1) how low the tuition and fees are, and (2) how it possibly can be an issue, given the cost of higher education everywhere else, including other institutions in Puerto Rico.
But tuition isn’t the only cost of attending a university — there are mandatory fees to be paid as well. And according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, in-state tuition and fees at UPR Rio Piedras last year were actually $1,814, not “$1200-$1500.”
That’s still pretty good, though, right? Well, sort of. Because as Weiner surely knows — but many of his stateside colleagues presumably do not — income in Puerto Rico lags far behind that of households in the continental United States. According to the census bureau, in fact, median household income there is only $17,500 — less than 35% of the national average of $50,221.
The national average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges, according to the Chronicle, is $6,633. That means that UPR’s planned $800 a year tuition hike would push UPR tuition up to 104% of the income-adjusted national average, and it would do so by hiking tuition the stateside equivalent of nearly $2,300 a year.
And there’s one more thing that needs to be understood — comparing income medians between Puerto Rico and the United States as a whole is a bit deceptive, because income inequality in Puerto Rico is much higher. The Gini Coefficient, a standard measure of the gap between the rich and the poor, is 0.469 across the US. In Puerto Rico, it’s 0.532, a number higher than any American state.
So yes, tuition and fees at UPR are pretty low right now by national standards. But what’s being planned would change that dramatically, and would do so abruptly and in the middle of a very tough financial climate.
Update | Victor Sanchez of the United States Student Association tweeted the following response to this piece: “Tuition is low, comparable to what? Other public institutions? Ha! #sameoldassargument #privatization.” Victor makes an excellent point, and it’s one worth expanding to more than 140 characters.
By definition, about half of all universities are going to have tuition lower than the national average at any given time — that’s how averages work. If every institution with below-average tuition raises their prices to the national average, the national average will go up. And suddenly all the institutions that had already had national-average tuition will be below average, and have a new justification for raising their tuition. A chase to the national average will produce an unending rapid upward spiral in college costs.
And of course it’s not just institutions with below-average tuition who are raising their rates. The University of California, long one of the nation’s more expensive public universities, has been raising rates through the roof recently. And with each California tuition hike, the national average — and thus the benchmark for what’s “reasonable” — rises accordingly.
If tuition costs are going to be kept to any sort of limits, some of the institutions with below-average tuition costs are going to have to stay below average. That’s not politics. It’s just math.
studentactivism.net 
9 comments
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December 23, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Victor M. Rodriguez
Excellent piece!
December 23, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Rick Swope
Thanks for taking the time to do the math. Much gets lost in the comparisons to U.S. universities and this isn’t even taking into account the huge debt problem students face in the U.S.
December 23, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Frances M. Bothwell del Toro
Your analysis should be read by the governor of Puerto Rico, who constantly compares the UPR with stateside schools. Add to all you have said is the very high unemployment rate on the island, and the lack of jobs. When families have more than one student at the university, the impact of the new fee becomes crushing. And the essential problem has been that over the years the budget from public funding that the university is entitled to has been eroded by laws which have excludes the university from new revenues or redistributed old ones. This has led to the budgent crisis which in turn led to the fee which is the immediate, but not the only, cause of the current controversy.
December 25, 2010 at 4:03 am
David Auerbach
all of this is true. and who on earth wants the additional fee? it’s a miserably unwise idea, and far worse is how the present and past administrations have deceptively cut off funding from UPR, which is why we’re in this situation to begin… with. however, in the interest of getting a more complete picture, there may be other factors to take into account: 1) the percentage of students receiving Pell grants compared to stateside institutions of the same caliber (and how much they cover total university expenses); 2) transparency in income reporting compared to other jurisdictions; 3) cost of living in San Juan compared to other cities in the US; 4) the number of students who transfer or simply enroll in other local (far more expensive) institutions due to situations of unrest (regardless of their cause) at UPR.
interestingly enough, for item 1), UPR is far exceeded in Pell-grant recipient percentages by a wide range of universities in poorer areas in the US (particularly in the South and Southwest). At Mississippi Valley State University, for example, in arguably one of the poorest jurisdictions in the US, 94% of the students receive Pell grants. Tuition (in-state) is $4,800 (out-of-state: $11,666). Average household income (US Census Bureau 2009) in Mississippi is $36,646, compared to PR’s $21,000. Even with the fee increase, UPR actually has a farer tuition level than MVSU, despite lower Pell grant numbers. for item 2), it has long been argued that PR suffers from tremendous underreporting/nonreporting of income (tax evasion), can or should this be taken into account when analyzing the overall picture of how UPR compares to other universities in terms of tuition fairness? Lower household income levels are also due to a far higher percentage of families receiving federal income assistance. 3) cost of living is higher in San Juan than in Mississippi, and wages are lower. 4) local private universities have been reporting much higher enrollment levels directly related to the situation at UPR over the past year. Tuition at Universidad Interamericana is more than four times as high as UPR ($163 per credit hour undergraduate). According to UPR Central Administration, there was a total loss of 5,000 students for the entire UPR system during the first semester of 2010-2011, a significant increase in matriculation loss when compared to the results from the last strike in 2005, when UPR lost 3.5% of total enrollment. Interamericana Metro has reported over 1,000 additional students enrolling in 2010-2011 when compared to the previous year. All private institutions have indicated similar situations.
That said, many of us believe that higher education should be free of cost entirely, although this is not perhaps feasible for many jurisdictions considering the exorbitant costs involved. If, however, federal education grant and assistance monies are being rechanneled elsewhere due to changes in legislation, that is another story altogether.
December 25, 2010 at 2:18 pm
jesse jane
These strikes in PR, and the police occupations of the university, are intense. What can we do on the mainland to help? Anyone know?
December 26, 2010 at 10:34 am
David Auerbach
Jesse Jane: it’s doubtful that anything can be done, although more coverage might help. The circumstances are unique to PR (i.e. – strike conditions themselves). The response would be similar in the mainland US.
January 1, 2011 at 8:36 am
Carmen
The cost of attending programs in the UPR system is ridiculously low and the $400/semester fee imposed recently is part of the UPR administration’s plan to reduce the deficit we presently have. This deficit arose because the revenues have been decreasing dramatically and the UPR receives 9.6% of the revenues, not including revenues raised by special taxes that were imposed to solve a >3 billion deficit in the island. Dr. Weiner welcomes the police presence in UPR because past student strikes have resulted in paralization of classes and all administrative duties and research projects, especially in UPR Rio Piedras, the largest campus of the UPR system. Striking students are notoriously violent against university employees or students who attempt to enter UPR to work or study during strikes. They have physically attacked graduate students who came at night to work on their thesis projects in the 2005 strike, they storm into classrooms, with their faces covered, throw smoke bombs, shout at the faculty and students, grab them to make them get out of classrooms, vandalize university properties and security personnel vehicles. Due to a university policy of non-confrontation, police can come into UPR premises upon a request from UPR administrative officials. People in favor of the strike oppose the police presence despite these obvious violations of UPR rules and regulations and PR law. I taught at UPR Rio Piedras during the 1981 student strike over a tuition hike of $10/credit hour (after 40 years of a credit cost of $5/credit hour), which lasted many months and caused irreparable damage to the UPR, this present situation is more of the same. Strikes, work stoppages, many island and UPR holidays and academic recesses, hurricane scares, and “brazos caidos (where employees come to work but do nothing)” constantly plague the work environment at UPR, affecting our productivity. This sad situation has to stop if we wish to be able to compete in the national and worldwide economy, the UPR community’s talents are not being optimally tapped. Part of this problem comes from the outdated administrative structure, that makes many decisions based on political concerns and is not constantly endeavoring to IMPROVE the development opportunities for all university stakeholders, but the current university strikers are fighting over a $800 fee instead of other bigger problems UPR has.
January 13, 2011 at 4:45 pm
drabble
Carmen has hit the target. Students have much to complain about–faculty who: base semester grades on three majors tests (an antiquated practice and one that is unacceptable at most, if not all,U.S. Mainland colleges/universities) have no or incomplete course outlines and change requirements whenever they wish; cancel class (as in the present strike; faculty simply do not have class; I have personally seen signs on doors canceling classes); who promote one ideology or another as opposed to trying to open the world to students; staff who: ignore students’ presence (I have personally seen students sit for hours waiting to be recognized by a staff member paid to serve them); have a job “on the side” and spend time at UPR selling cosmetics, jewelry, vitamins, etc.; or who simply do not perform their jobs; a needlessly duplicative administrative structure. Some administrators sincerely want change, but it is extremely difficult to achieve. As Carmen says, students have many issues to complain about, but an $800 fee is not one of them. College education is an investment for society. However, it is also an investment for individuals. Those with a college education make more than $2M more than those without one; they have nicer cars and homes than those who have a high school diploma; their health and helath care is better; their children go to better schools, and they have more social and economic freedom than those with a high school diploma. Strikers have taunted/threatened my husband and other faculty, surrounded them, punched holes in air conditioners, poured water on computers, set fire to the Natural Science library, and jostled and even slapped students who simply want to attend class. The images found at http://www.uprrp.edu/hechos2010/?page_id=65 (photos taken during the April to July 2010 strike) do not reflect the the usual view of what is done to “save the university.”
March 11, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Ed
I studied at the Polytechnic University of Puero Rico at about $100/credit total 180 credits. Do the math. I worked through school, with a little help from mom, Pell Grant and without student loans. They should stop gripping and get their behinds to work. Yes, it took much more than 5 years, but I did it and currently work for a fortune 500 company. I understand that the income is much lower in PR, trust me I do, but then again you have to see that puertorricans have to start to put things into perspective and start investing in what really matters. People there spend ridiculous amounts of money on buying cellphone, cars, clothes, etc. To say the least one of the biggest malls in the USA is in Puerto Rico.