President McDavis,

We, the students of Ohio University, are writing to express our disappointment and anger with the letter that you wrote to the Columbus Dispatch on July 5th.

Guaranteed tuition is a blatant abuse of Ohio University students: while it may help the more privileged families within our university by providing some “financial predictability”, this program does little to address the increasingly dire issue of student debt.

Guaranteed tuition will endanger non-traditional students, students taking high course loads, or anyone else who may find it difficult to graduate within the allotted four years. It is apparent that you do not care about the education of our student body; rather, your focus is on squeezing every penny out of us until higher education no longer seems like a viable option to the youth of Southeast Ohio.

Around 89% of the student body at OU has some sort of financial aid. The average student debt upon graduation in the state of Ohio is $39,000 (according to the Project on Student Debt), and that number will continue to increase, regardless of Guaranteed Tuition. Furthermore, hour cuts for students working on campus, and an increase in the cost of living on campus and in Athens makes it incredibly difficult for even the most financially prepared students to feel entirely in control of their situation. 

Instead of advocating for the students you are meant to serve at the statehouse, you have chosen to instead lay the burden of debt upon us, the victims of a ruined educational system. You, the Board of Trustees, and Vice President of Finance Steve Golding, do not care about the academic and personal integrity of the students who have been entrusted into your safekeeping; you care only for the bottom line, and the increased yearly salaries and bonuses it brings our administration.

In summary, a Guaranteed Tuition is little more than a Guaranteed Tuition Hike in fancy wrappings. The students of Ohio University are deeply saddened. At worst, you have betrayed our trust, failed your commitments to our University, or sold out to the state of Ohio. At best, you have merely fallen prey to the misleading notion that knowing just how much we will be overpaying for a decent education each year will somehow make all of the debt and sacrifice that we will have to make worth it. 

This is blatantly false. To our parents, faculty, staff, and fellow students who chose not to speak up when the time was upon us: Guaranteed Tuition is not, nor will it ever be, a solution to student debt. WE REPEAT: Guaranteed Tuition is little more than a Guaranteed Tuition Hike every year. While the attempt may be commendable, it is failing to address the root of the problem. 

We need a president who will support our needs as students. We need a president who will advocate for us at the state. We don’t need a president who is complicit in the demise of accessible education.

Sincerely,