COLUMN: Exposing Penn to the nation

From: Sarah Giulian's, "From Under My Rock," Fall '97 From: Sarah Giulian's, "From Under My Rock," Fall '97 We were tired of being buried, back-seated, condescended to and forgotten. We were tired of being confused with Penn State. We wanted to be spoken of in the same breath as Harvard and Yale. I was way off target with that one. If you haven't read the article, allow me to summarize. The topic: "A special investigation into why tuition has soared." The approach: "Erik Larson returns to his alma mater -- the University of Pennsylvania -- to find out why the school charges so much and where the money really goes." Have I piqued your interest? Good. Not one student at this university should leave these pages unturned. It is the most comprehensive and intellectually accessible explanation of our tuition that we can get our hands on. Unfortunately for Penn, so can the rest of the country. Larson's article seemed well researched and fair; I was neither pissed at the author nor at Penn when I finished reading. He obviously had the same goal we would: to figure it all out and get the truth. Naturally, he only scratched the surface of this mess we call finance, but that information alone was enough to send my head spinning. Everyone knows our tuition is ridiculously high. We also know its virtually identical to most top-notch universities in the country. A lot of it is probably worth it. And a lot of it isn't. So why has our tuition risen at 300 times the rate of inflation since 1983? Answering that question is like finding a Penn chick who's not wearing black pants. So I divide the expenses into two categories: the good -- what is necessary or worth it -- and the bad --what is extraneous. For example, $18 million for campus security is good. $726,943 for Penn Escort is good. Even $412 million for athletic programs is good. Renovations, the library, insurance, university voice mail and landscaping are good. We all know Penn needs to look smart to the perspective students eyes. Then there are a few expenses I'm a bit fuzzy on. I'm not sure what commencement videos are or why they cost over $9,000. I dont know why the presidents of Ivy League universities make more in salary than the President of the United States (University President Judith Rodin rakes in a cool $350,000). Full professors' salaries and benefits are bad (Unless you're a professor. Then it's good). Penn is competitive, and offering the average full professor $121,000 is part of the game -- we must be willing to pay for the best. However, as Larson pointed out, the benefits include a free ride for their kids to attend the university -- a luxury costing Penn $11 million of its tuition money in 1994. This is also part of the fierce game in faculty competition which Penn is forced to play, but boy is it backwards. Students whose parents match their professors' salaries legitimately aren't considered for aid. Somehow schools lost sight of this essential fact while tearing at each others throats to obtain the most intellectually profound of academia. That only hurts us kids. When Larson asked Rodin if she could cut tuition without sacrificing anything, would she, she obviously answered, "Absolutely." Duh. Makes it sound like money is carefully monitored, never ever spent frivolously. Sacrificing, however, is a word open to interpretation. Larson found that the chemistry department spent $38,716 on entertainment. Let me tell you what that's all about -- table for 12 ritzy restaurant, four bottles of wine, three-course meals, cappuccinos and after-dinner drinks. As a waitress, I used to think I was profiting on these continual "charge it to my department" dinner parties. After all, it brings in a solid tip. Silly me. That's just a fraction of the money I paid to support them in their feasting. Why can't we cut this from the budget? I guess the Chemistry Department would consider it a sacrifice. Is every department budgeted "entertainment" expenses? Is there any excuse for the money to be so high? Why has the performing arts community been shot down for decades in their repeated requests for more practice space while the Chemistry Department spends just under $40,000 on entertainment? Now that Penn has been stripped naked for all the country to see, will things change? Doubtful. The public easily forgets and anxiously awaits next week's issue of Time anyway. And Penn can for once be grateful to slip away like a passing whisper.