When Scott Van Loo announced the tuition reset, we should have realized who he is, and what his role is at the university.  Van Loo is the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing.  Not business, or finance, or financial aid.  He is in charge of marketing the university in a positive way, attracting students to the school and ensuring the school has a positive image.

In that regard, the tuition reset has been wildly successful.  It garnered national media attention, and earned the school accolades from several state-level politicians.  Visits are up, applications are up, and, anecdotally, people who did not think Ashland was in their price range are taking a look, and seeing why Ashland is a great university.

Despite the heaps of criticism students place on the university, I have not run into anyone sincerely dissatisfied with the things that truly matter.  The professors are accessible, friendly and are truly good people.  There are plenty of things to complain about with the administration and the bureaucracy that goes along with college, but I’ve heard few complaints about anyone’s actual academic experience.

And as much as I would like to sell Ashland on nothing more than that, it is just not a realistic way to keep a university going.  A $40,000 price tag is going to deter quite a few high school seniors from ever setting foot on this campus.  Lowering the sticker price is going to get the school more looks, and those looks can translate into new undergraduates.  It’s a solid marketing strategy.

So when the tuition reset was announced, we really should have known better.  It always has been a marketing move.  It originated from the marketing department, and that is just fine.  It isn’t a criticism of marketing, but looking at the change through that lens clarifies a lot of different things.  It wasn’t designed to actually save significant sums of money, although it will make each year’s increase smaller.  Many parts of the reset are confusing, and they seem like anything but the transparency the move was supposed to bring.  Scholarships students were familiar with were consolidated, renamed and fixed to keep a steady, across the board increase for each student.  This arbitrary change certainly is a reason for students to be skeptical, but there is no change to the bottom line for students.

Ashland University made a move to attract new students, not to satisfy current students.  We can argue whether that is right or wrong for quite some time.  You can choose to feel victimized and mislead.  Or you can adopt a more pragmatic approach, understanding anything good for the university is good for the individual student.  We as students may never see a benefit from this move.  As far as I am concerned, I am comfortable with that.  This school has given me quite a bit.  It’s given me some great friends, outstanding professors and has set me up for success in my career.  We can complain about problems until we are blue in the face, and a lot needs to be changed.  I just don’t think the reset is something to add to that list.