One tuition rule fits all

The general election is now just two months away, and before the political machines reach deafening decibels, we'd like to draw your attention to a proposed constitutional amendment that's been kept a little too quiet.

SJR 101 will appear on your absentee or standard ballot. It asks:

Shall Section 10, Article IX, of the Constitution of the State of Idaho be amended to permit the Board of Regents of the University of Idaho to impose rates of tuition and fees on all students enrolled in the University of Idaho as authorized by law?

Crazy as it sounds, UI is the only state university that cannot charge tuition. Why? The short answer is that this land-grant institution preceded statehood by a year, so it has had to abide by a different set of rules dating back to territorial times.

The hundreds if not thousands of you who attended UI and/or helped pay the bills for your student there have actually never paid undergrad tuition. You've paid student fees - fees that can look colossal or confusing when you're comparing colleges and universities. The problem is that according to state law, student fees cannot be used to pay for classroom instruction. At best, UI has a cumbersome and completely unnecessary budgeting disadvantage. And at worst, curious students and parents can be confused when trying to compare real costs among prospective institutes of higher learning and cross UI off the list because its fees look bloated.

The amendment would not affect how much tuition or fees the university charges. That authority will remain exclusively with the State Board of Education.

As much as we hate tampering with the Constitution, we believe this bookkeeping amendment deserves your support to put UI on an equal footing as the other state-supported colleges and universities. Passage of SJR 101 will simply allow the University of Idaho to charge tuition, which then can be used for classroom instruction. It will end an annual budgeting nightmare and allow fair comparisons for prospective students.