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>>ANNOUNCER: From your breaking news and weather authority, this is 13WHAM News at 11, now
in high definition. >>ANCHOR: Challenge accepted. A local college
says it heard the President's message about tuition costs loud and clear. RIT says it
will take new steps to keep tuition increases in line. Good evening, I'm Adam Chocak, in
for Ginny Ryan. >>And I'm Don Alhart. In his State of the
Union address this week, the President said higher education should not be a luxury. He
reiterated his message during a visit to the University of Michigan today.
>>PRESIDENT OBAMA: You can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If
you can't stop tuition from going up, than the funding you get from tax payers each year
will go down. We should push colleges to do better. We should hold them accountable if
they don't. >>ANCHOR: Well 13WHAM's Evan White is live
on the RIT campus tonight. We heard a little bit from RIT today. How do they plan to follow
what the President wants them to do. >>REPORTER: Don, they're still studying this.
RIT's president says that tuition, which goes up every single year, he wants it to go up
less and he's formed a committee to look at this closely.
As the hockey team puts one in the back of the net, RIT President Bill Destler has one
goal of his own, lower costs for students. >>PRESIDENT DESTLER: The only thing that's
been rising faster than the cost of health care has been the cost of college tuition
on a year-to-year basis. >>REPORTER: Alexander Lemenze knows the burden
of heightened college costs firsthand. He's still a year from graduation.
>>ALEXANDER LEMENZE: Well, it's pretty hefty. You have to deal with it. It's always there
in the back of your mind because you have to worry about where am I going to live next
year. >>REPORTER: Tuition and fees at RIT for a
full year with room and board total $42,450, a 4.3 percent increase from the previous year,
according to the school. >>PRESIDENT DESTLER: The average student graduates
with about $20,000 in debt. That, of course, is $20,000 too much.
>>REPORTER: While others play, first year student Tiana Manon of Rochester is working
to pay for school. >>TIANA MANON: It's definitely a big deal.
I've already started paying the interest on it, just so that doesn't accumulate.
>>REPORTER: RIT hopes to drop the tuition increase to 3.5 to 4 percent in the next couple
of years, an effort that could just help Tiana reach her goal.
>>TIANA MANON: Financially, I just want to be above water. I'm okay with being in the
water, just as long as I'm not drowning. >>REPORTER: Feeling echoed by a lot of students
especially those with student loan debt. Again, RIT is studying this over the next couple
of years. One idea of ways they're trying to cut down would be light bulbs - 20,000
light bulbs. They say they're going to replace them with more energy efficient ones. A way
to save money. Reporting live from RIT, Evan White, 13WHAM News.