Hofstra owes students a financial explanation

Photo by Savith Collure

On April 19, ABC7News reported that Hofstra University filed a lawsuit against Nassau County because of its cooperation in the development of a casino near campus. In the article, Hofstra’s president Susan Poser was quoted saying, “It's serious because this is an enormous tract of public land that they are considering ... That's of huge interest to the public whether they are for it or against it.” I was surprised when I saw the quote, since Hofstra students weren’t informed on the impending lawsuit. It’s common to hear that students represent a university, yet we rarely discuss how Hofstra chooses to represent us. Common threads of conversation arose with my peers, such as, “Does this mean Hofstra students condoned suing Nassau County?” and “Is our tuition paying for this?” This opened up an entirely new line of conversation: “What does our tuition even pay for?”

Hofstra is a private university; it has no legal responsibility to disclose the breakdown of its financial status. Students essentially purchase an education from Hofstra; we’re not privy to shareholder information. Yet this doesn’t mean that Hofstra shouldn’t bare responsibility of informing students on tuition usage. In fact, Hofstra openly published on its financial standings that “tuition and fees” accounted for 63.9% of its 2017-2018 revenue. I used 2018 statistics because Hofstra hasn’t published any financial reports since. Where do the remaining two-thirds of Hofstra’s budget go? So little information is disclosed that even more questions are raised.

The tuition allocation issue relates to on-campus residency, too. An anonymous student living in Estabrook Hall said, “Over the semester, three washing machines were broken and one still needs to be fixed.” Similar instances were also reported from Nassau-Suffolk and Bill of Rights residents. Toilets in public campus spaces spray excess water when flushing. Some bathrooms don’t even have stalls, just shower curtains. What about building updates? The Axinn Library recently started renovations on its exterior, closing off an entire floor before finals. The building’s exterior hadn’t been upgraded in 60 years; yet multiple new buildings have been built across campus.

What about our academic use of tuition? According to College Tuition Compare, tuition and fees at Hofstra have increased from $37,400 (2013) to $53,330 (2023) and the rate of tuition increase is 46.71% over the past 10 years. That’s double the average New York college rate hike (21.32%) and higher than the average US college rate hike (31.52%). At the same time, Hofstra’s undergraduate ranking by USNews has dropped from 137th in 2017 to 166th in 2023.

Does Hofstra use our tuition for marketing and cultural services? Everyone remembers Hofstra’s Black History Month mistake; Jessica Eads wasn’t even in the country when her quote and picture were misrepresented on the university’s social media. Just last month the Chronicle reported on Hofstra Dining’s mistakes concerning halal food ratings during Ramadan. How do our “tuition and fees” go towards these decisions? Don’t these decisions represent us too?

I understand that these critiques are wide and span through different aspects of the university. At the same time, it’s necessary to question how the administration chooses to use our tuition funds. It may seem like I just want to complain, but it’s the opposite. It’s because I love Hofstra that I feel the need to ask and understand how we’re representing ourselves. My peers, professors and staff are amazing people who I’m proud to know. I want us to do better for ourselves and the community. That starts with knowing how our time and money is spent.  

When we entered Hofstra, we all agreed on the same P.R.I.D.E values. The letter “R” in the acronym stands for responsibility. We, as students, have a responsibility to ourselves and our community. Hofstra P.R.I.D.E. is not just how we represent the university, it’s also how the university chooses to represent us. Hofstra may not have a legal need to tell us how our tuition gets used, but it does have a personal responsibility to us. I promise you: if students had to choose between being a better school or having a bunch of tulips, they wouldn’t choose the tulips.