They like the modest tuition (as low as $2 per month), the English-language curriculum and the success rate on standardized tests.
When Austria introduced a modest tuition fee of €363 per term in 2001, the number of students enrolled dropped by a fifth.
A good thing, too, since my grandfather, a ragpicker, would have had difficulty mustering the will or the means to pay even the modest tuition fees then required.
SUNY's interim chancellor, John B. Clark, a commission member, lauded the proposals on Wednesday but said modest tuition increases were also "important" because the last ones were five years ago.
Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, a Republican from Port Jefferson, who is chairman of the Senate's higher education committee, said on Wednesday that he did not oppose modest tuition increases, but that he did not like nonuniform tuition rates.
In recent years, they and other college administrators around the country have been calling for a "rational" tuition policy that would allow for modest tuition increases every year, tied to some independent index, rather than larger ones at unpredictable intervals.
Many are drawn by the modest tuition ($3,200 a year for state residents), and free tuition to those who qualify for CUNY's new honors program, which also provides them with free laptop computers and covers other academic expenses.
While our schools demonstrably provide an outstanding academic and moral foundation for success in life, the somber fact is that two-thirds of our Catholic parents either cannot afford even our modest tuition or otherwise choose not to send their children to our schools.
