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>>ANNOUNCER: Now from News 10 NBC, coverage you can count on . This is News 10 NBC at
11. >>PRESIDENT OBAMA: Congress needs to do more.
They need to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling this July. That's what
is scheduled to happen if Congress doesn't act.
>>ANCHOR: President Obama is calling on Congress to take action on the rising cost of a college
education, and he wants colleges to step in too. Good evening, I'm Lia Lando. Rich has
the night off. President Obama is warning the nation's colleges and universities they
could lose their federal aid if they continue to jack up tuition. According to the College
Board, average tuition and fees at public colleges rose by more than eight percent this
year. Add room and board and the price tag is more than $17,000 a year. Lynette Adams
looked into this issue at a university here. She joins us from the newsroom. Lynette?
>>REPORTER: Well Lia, tuition has been going up at private colleges and universities as
well. Last year, RIT raised tuition 4.3 percent and President Bill Destler isn't happy about
it. RIT has already started looking for places to cut to hold the line on tuition costs that
hover at $42,000 a year. Just as RIT is the leader on the scoreboard,
it wants to lead in another area that impacts students even more than a hockey game.
>>PRESIDENT DESTLER: This is actually a real problem. There are many reasons for it, but
although there are reasons, I don't think we should let them be excuses. I think we
have to find a way to get our costs contained here and get our annual tuition increases
closer to the annual rate of inflation. >>REPORTER: At the same time that President
Obama is asking colleges to reign in tuition increases, RIT President Bill Destler is having
that conversation with his staff. >>PRESIDENT DESTLER: Well there are a lot
of opportunities, I think, that won't affect the quality of our programs or the quality
of the experience our students have but will allow us to get some control over our cost
base and allow us to get tuition under control. >>REPORTER: Destler says RIT is looking for
ways to save like replacing 20,000 fluorescent light bulbs with LED lights, cutting energy
costs. This is welcome news for students like fourth year engineering student Megan Henriksen.
Her father has been putting three through college.
>>MEGAN HENRIKSEN: I would love it if they could stabilize it, if it didn't increase
each year. It help me out. It would help my father a lot.
>>REPORTER: Third year computer major Ross Lancaster says it's taking a lot of help and
two jobs to afford RIT. >>ROSS LANCASTER: If it wasn't for financial
aid, I would definitely be going somewhere else. It's not to say that RIT hasn't helped
me a lot here. They've given me a lot of scholarships, around $11,000 worth of scholarships. So they're
definitely helping on that front but there's still like $30,000 left over.
>>REPORTER: Mike Garowsky lives in Ontario, Canada. His son received offers from a few
colleges. RIT was closest to home and offered him a lot of money to play hockey. He and
his wife, however, have accepted the cost of college.
>>MIKE GAROWSKY: I know going through when I did, I didn't have a university degree,
but there were plenty of jobs. You didn't require a degree to get a well paid job. Now
you do. >>REPORTER: Destler says what's interesting
while colleges and universities are raising tuition each year, very few of them are actually
taking more money in. Lia? >>ANCHOR: So Lynette, what's driving up the
cost of tuition? >>REPORTER: Well, Destler told us. The rising
cost of health care for staff and faculty is number 1, not to mention campus amenities,
recreational facilities to attract the best and the brightest.
>>ANCHOR: And it's clearly costing students big.
>>REPORTER: That's right. For the first time ever, student loan debt has outpaced credit
card debt. >>ANCHOR: All right, Lynette Adams in the
newsroom. Thank you for that report tonight.