(09-12-2017 11:25 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  

(09-12-2017 11:20 AM)DoubleDogDare Wrote:  

(09-12-2017 08:29 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  oh, and by the way, for those complaining about the student fees for athletics.....within and outside JMU.....tuition at just over $10,000 in-state.

that remains an incredible bargain for what the university provides as far as experience and education.

Rightttttt, but if athletic fees were reduced then tuition could be lower which would make it even more of an incredible bargain. Or, tuition could remain the same with a larger percentage going to academics, which would hopefully (assuming thoughtful spending) again provide an even more incredible bargain.

Agreed that regardless of the breakdown, JMU provides a GREAT ROI (I Kiplinger's does an ROI ranking where JMU receives ~ top 5 rating). But to use "the school already provides a great bargain" as an excuse (which you might not be doing) for high student student fees doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

should we do a la carte tuition then?

why should a student that isn't interested in Music or Arts have to pay for the cost of the new music center?

the only difference between the two is that the State mandates athletics fees be separately stated. How much of every student's tuition goes to fund large capital projects or programs that the vast majority of student's will never take part or benefit from?

Sorry, but I think you are reaching for something that isn't there (or just don't understand what I'm attempting to say). To clarify my thoughts, just because the total tuition amount is a great bargain, that doesn't absolve JMU of their responsibility to spend the tuition they do charge appropriately. As such, I can be happy about the total tuition amount and still believe that student fees are high. Or likewise, you can be happy about the total tuition amount and complain that too much is going to the music department.

You appear to be advocating that because total tuition is a great bargain, where the money is going isn't an issue. That line of thinking means you are cool with JA upping tuition to $11k or $15k or whatever amount you would still consider to be a bargain and using the extra money as fuel for a bonfire. I doubt you would agree with that.