City Paper Discovers GW's High Tuition
It's not exactly breaking news, but the City Paper's cover story this week is about the George Washington University and its high tuition, tops in the nation. The somewhat basic article (at least to a GW grad and basketball blogger) talks to a few University officials and a couple of students, but seems a little thin.
The article does make a good point (and one that we made months ago) — is it worth it? And just looking numerically, with the school having the highest tuition but ranked 54th by U.S. News, then no, it's not. However, some of the anecdotes in the article, which apparently are trying to show that the school spends extravagantly, seem a little forced.
The piece opens with Colonial Inauguration, GW's freshman orientation. It talks about the University buying $4,000 worth of shorts for the students who staff the event and interviews the man who runs the $25,000 $2,500 a minute laser light show. Do those seem excessive? Yes. But in the article's first paragraph, it says without quoting anyone "CI is one of the university’s selling points." Really? Kids choose colleges based on their orientations? I doubt too many kids say "Well I really liked NYU and Boston U, but I hear GW has lasers in their orientation. My mind is made up."
Another interesting tidbit is a quote from Margaret Soltan, an English professor, who talks about a "culture of wealth," saying, “All you have to do is walk up and down 21st Street and see all these fancy SUVs and Porsches and realize that they are being driven by 20-year-olds.” However, the reporter doesn't go and see for themselves or try to dig deeper into the "culture of wealth." When I was at GW from 1998 to 2002, I don't remember anyone I knew of having a Porsche. In fact, most students, rich or not so rich, didn't have cars at all. The rumor then was that a lot of children of sheiks and sultans went to GW, but no one seemed to know for sure, and this article doesn't find out.
While it does talk about the tuition's rise under former President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, the piece is also notable for what it leaves out. It mentions Foggy Bottom residents' usually negative response to GW's plans, such as developing the old university hospital site at 23rd and Pennsylvania as offices and apartments, but oddly doesn't talk to them directly. Many of the residents have been in the neighborhood for a long time, and are usually very happy to talk about the university. And all of the quotes are from GW-affiliated people — students, alumni, administrators, and professors. There aren't any officials from other D.C. universities quoted, or experts on universities, tuition or endowments.
The article also leaves out details that could make the school seem more ritzy or money-hungry, like the fact that some students receive maid service in dorms, or that the grocery store that used to be in the Marvin Center sold all sorts of gourmet items. It doesn't talk about the fact that (free) student use of the building has been dropping, replaced by (paid) meeting space for companies and conferences. It also doesn't mention the trolley GW owns to give prospective students a ride around campus.
That said, the article does get frank quotes from university officials, such as the admissions director's response to the high tuition: “You sit down and scratch your head and say, ‘How are we going to deal with this?’ And then you move forward.” Students are quoted too, such as Jake Sherman, editor of the student paper, the Hatchet, who said the number 1 ranking has "almost been PR suicide for them. It’s pretty unbelievable how they’ve tried to spin it." The City Paper also spoke with some students who weren't pleased with how their money was spent, such as Kevan Duve, who transferred to Columbia University, which was interesting.
This subject could easily have been a long, interesting piece on tuition at GW and universities in general, but instead it's a fairly light piece with a couple quotes and anecdotes.
Photo by Flickr user matthewpiatt, used under a Creative Commons license