Financing education around the world and at home
Joanna Mikulski
Innsbruck Stimme
This fall the air of Salzburg, Innsbruck, Vienna and other Austrian cities has been overwhelmed by the sound of voices of thousands of students shouting in protest. Sheets bearing words of anger and frustration hang from the windows of the arts and letters building at the University of Innsbruck. Each morning eager undergrads pass newspapers and leaflets out to those departing class. The red-lettered headlines of these documents of protest decry "Studien-Gebühren," the payment by students directly for their education. Formerly, the Austrian state covered the cost of a university education with the taxes paid within Austria's socialistic system. This system also provides citizens with health care and pension.
The majority parties in the Austrian government, the OVP and FPÖ, instituted the 5,000 schilling per semester cost in order to eliminate problems within the Austrian educational system. The universities frequently lack the funds to make improvements and to update technology. Professors within the Austrian system often accept better paying positions in other countries like the United States. Free tuition also has led to a phenomenon in the country: perpetual students. Scholars, unwilling or hesitant to join the "real world," may spend years at the university in various programs and schools, occupying the precious few seats available to students and thereby preventing first year students from entering the university. The once-a-semester charge is intended to force college students to finish their schooling earlier.
For many reasons the institution of tuition at the university has sparked protests throughout Austria. No decrease in taxes for parents or students accompanies the 5,000 schilling charge, equivalent to about $320. Within the Austrian socialistic system all money flows first to the state. Consequently no guarantee exists that the university will receive an appropriate amount of money from the new funds.
Some feel that this alteration of Austrian tradition comes too early. The universities still do not possess the necessary resources to compensate for their higher price. My roommate, for example, found some of the required courses for her first year in the College of Business to be closed. Should she be unable to enroll in these classes next year the possibility of a required fifth year and the payment of another 10,000 schillings for her education looms.
Unfortunately the Austrian government and the universities stand in a "Catch-22" position on this issue. They wish to improve the school and to expand the limited educational possibilities and openings, yet to accomplish this goal, they require money from the students that cannot find classes or openings in the university programs.
The new tuition also forces Austrian students, like American students, to deal with the issue of financing an education. Forty-seven percent of Austrian students must work to obtain the necessary 1000 schillings per month.
One of the banners adorning our classroom building speaks to the plight of such students and offers a connection to the problems of higher education in America. It reads, translated from German, "am poor, stay dumb." Fortunately in the United States financial aid and scholarships exist to help poor students, yet these limited resources often leave students behind. Frequently, only the wealthy can afford the price tag of an education at a nationally known university and possess the access to good grammar schools and high schools that allow children to succeed and achieve a high academic level. Yet, the expansion of the American economy and the country as a whole requires the education of the majority of the population at the college level and beyond.
Both Al Gore and George W. Bush have proposed plans to help parents, employers and students finance higher education. Gore supports the College Opportunity Tax Cut, a tax deduction or 28 percent tax credit on up to $10,000 in tuition and 401K accounts that would allow individuals and employers to save money for education tax free. Bush proposes an expansion in the Education Savings Accounts program that would raise the annual contribution limit from $500 to $5000. He also endorses a $1.5 billion "College Challenge" grant to help establish a merit scholarship program through each state and the complete tax-exemption for all qualified tuition savings plans. Regardless of the outcome of the election Americans should pressure their representatives to accept such proposals that could alleviate in America some of the issues of financing education now felt across the globe.
As I glance at a florescent-yellow poster plastered to the front entrance of my class building that encourages students to engage in an Oct. 11 protest, the similarity in the concerns between students here in Austria and in the United States strikes me again.
Joanna Mikulski is a sophomore Arts and Letters major. She is spending the semester abroad in Innsbruck, Austria.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, October 10, 2000
