Here is what I can say now that I have graduated....

Recently, a few IPFW students and faculty went down to Indy to lobby for more funding of the distinguished Fort Wayne campus. I would have to ask what the funding was for before I could say whether or not I supported an increase.

The real problem with college is its cost. Tuition costs increase faster than inflation. Why? Because they know whatever they charge, a student will pay. And IPFW's fees keep going up. They had $3 million to spend on a pedestrian bridge. They could have used that money to lower tuition costs. It would have been cheaper to teach college students to look both ways before crossing the street. But they know that aspiring doctors, lawyers, and whatever profession a liberal arts major hopes for (liberal artist?) will pay increased tuition fees year after year. The strain is especially hard on adults working their way through college. They go part time, and they can't always get a loan or a grant. Now that IPFW has dorms (like the lights at Wrigley Field, a stake through the heart of tradition, but its still probably for the best) have they forgotten about the returning adults?

So this is what I propose. All returning adults band together in an organization, perhaps it could be called an academic union. This AU would petition IPFW to not raise its tuition. If IPFW fails to comply, all members of the AU would not enroll the next semester. The Academic Union would have a tuition strike.

Now, I'd advise against seniors and full time students attempting this. They have too much to lose if IPFW decides to retailiate. But the returning adults can strike a heavy blow for the rights and interests of all students. And it does not have to stop with just tuition. Unfair practices, like universities refusing students the opprotunity to test out of what they learned in high school, can be rectified. Students of the World, (or maybe just Fort Wayne for now) unite!