Dear Eastern University,

Do not spend my money without my knowledge.

In any private university, there will be tuition changes depending on student admissions and staff changes, but there should never be changes in tuition for meaningless renovations without consent from the payer (the students!!).

Before I go any further, I must point out that I love Eastern. I previously published an article that skewed readers into thinking that I hate the university. This is completely false. If I did not love my college, I would transfer. That being said, I do firmly believe in freedom of speech, and I am here to say that Eastern, and any college for that matter, has room to improve.

Recently, the President of Eastern sent a letter to his students declaring a tuition increase. He proposed that the students of Eastern would see an increase in their tuition in the coming year. Calling it a “moderate tuition increase” of $920, resident students are also paying for the increase in room ($160), board ($146), and fees ($20). Therefore, resident students are paying $1246 more than this year’s tuition to maintain residency. At a glance, the increase may not seem that bad, but there are students who pay close to ten thousand dollars a year to attend this institution. Where can they salvage more funds to pay for the increase? Eastern’s tuition is already a whopping $41,814, and, with the increase, the tuition will come to $43,060.

I, a resident student, am not seeing the overall benefits of the tuition increase. Later in the letter, President Robert Duffett said that the tuition increase is in response to their investments in building a gym, hiring student success advisers (I still do not know who mine is or what they do), and remodeling Walton Hall. Eastern is practically renovating the sections of the institution that makes us more pleasing to prospective students. Now, I am not completely oblivious. I know that improving Eastern would be fantastic. I would like it if I could say where I attend college without having to say immediately after say, “it’s right next to Villanova.”

But, the fact of the matter is, why are you doing renovations that would be pleasing for future students while screwing over current attendees?

If it were up to me, I would suggest that Eastern fix: the air conditioning and/or heat in every building, the plumbing in the Hainer triple’s bathrooms, add more lights on the paths for safety, and add more security so that students can safely be dropped off at their dorm in the middle of the night. You know, the things that would directly improve resident life for the people paying to live on campus. What a thought! All of these proposed improvements are seemingly less important than “fixing Walton.” Walton, in my opinion, was more beautiful before all of the renovations. I loved the historical side of this campus that is currently being taken away due to these renovations.

Instead of pressuring students to take some survey that can eventually give Eastern feedback on how to improve overall, let us work together now and discuss how to fairly divide money across campus. I, like other students want to know where our money is going to. I am sick and tired of looking at unfinished renovations in Walton when I can’t even use the bathrooms on my own floor because the plumbing is so bad. It is time for Eastern to get their priorities straight.

In order to have the support from the student body, I firmly believe that faculty should get student approval. I never received an email as to where my money was going to this whole year. All I received was an after-the-fact notice that I was paying more money than this year. Was is a coincidence that the email was sent to students after the housing deposits were due? I think not.

I think Eastern has to build faith in the institution without all the unnecessary renovations. I think Eastern needs to reason more with their students and their needs. And, I think Eastern needs to give justice to those they are taking money from.