Every Saturday, Travis Scheuering drives an hour each way from Slippery Rock to

Pittsburgh to work an 11 hour day as a part time waiter at a Vietnamese restaurant.

Scheuering is a 21 year old senior Health and Physical Education major at Slippery Rock
University. He said the money that he makes working part time goes towards things like
textbooks, food and gas for his car.
The money I make there is barely enough to cover those things, said Scheuering, still
wearing the green SRU Physical Education polo that he wore to class that day.
As tuition and fees rise yet again in the fall of 2014, students must do more and more to
keep up with the financial demands that college places on them. According to a press release
from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, or PASSHE, the rise in tuition was
consistent with this years rate projected rate of inflation, which is three percent. For most of the
last 10 years, the increase in tuition has come close to matching the nations rate of inflation.
The base tuition rate for a full time in state student for the 2014-2015 school year is
$3,410 a semester or $6,820 for the full year. A $198 increase from last years full year tuition.
The PASSHE press release went on to say that the increase in tuition will cut the budget
reductions that the 14 state schools need to make in half. Even with the latest increase, the
PASSHE schools remain the cheapest options for a four year school in the state, according to the
release.
Scheuering said that he pays for school with loans and a scholarship from the Pittsburgh
public schools that helps a lot. He said that the fact that tuition went up another three percent
didnt bother him all that much, that it was normal.
Its not a big deal, Scheuering said. But it shouldn't be the only thing going up. How
much I get paid doesnt go up when tuition does.

Scheuering said that classes during the week combined with the part time work on
Saturday only really gives him Sunday to completely devote to projects and studying. He said
that it definitely affects his performance in his classes, and hes not alone.
There are many other students in very similar and sometimes more severe situations.
Karina Kasavich, a 21 year old senior Physical Education and Spanish Education major at
Slippery Rock said that she works two part time jobs to keep up with the many costs of college.
She works as a waitress in Pittsburgh and at the Butler Petco. She said that she needs the two
jobs because one just isn't enough to keep up with all of the costs associated with college.
I cant do anything because of the two jobs, the petite dark haired Kasavich said at the
dining room table in the apartment she shares with four other students.
Kasavich said that she pays for the bulk of the cost of attendance with a mixture of loans,
scholarships and grants, so she doesn't directly see the increase in tuition every year. She did say
that although she doesnt see the increase directly that no one ever likes to pay more for
anything.
Kasavich and Scheuering shared similar views on the increase in the fees on their bills
this year. One example is the technology fee, which increased by just over $50.
I want to think the money is helping us students but you dont really know, said
Sheuering.
Kasavich said that she didnt know much about all of the fees but that she hopes the
money is going towards good things. She did have a lot of experience with the health services
fee. She said that shes already got her moneys worth out of the health center so at least some of
the money is going towards something very useful.

Some students have work study jobs on campus which might take up some of their time,
but there is time to study and work on projects on the job. Jacob Dulski is one of those students.
He works as an IMC Student Assistant on the second floor of Bailey Library at Slippery Rock.
The 21 year old senior exercise science major said that he loves his work study job as he ate his
morning breakfast in the form of a banana while sitting at his second floor student assistant desk.
Dulski differs from most students attending Slippery Rock because he isnt from
Pennsylvania. He said that hes from New York and that fact might give him a different
perspective on the tuition increase because he doesnt pay the same as students living in PA do.
Dulski said the increase is always expected but that Slippery Rock is an extremely affordable
school, especially when compared to a lot of other universities.
Dulski said that he pays for school with loans and that the work study job helps him pay
for other expenses. The fact that his job is in the library gives Dulski an advantage over students
like Scheuering and Kasavich. Dulski said that sitting at the desk so much almost forces him to
work more on his school work.
I would work here doing this job even if they stopped paying me, said Dulski.
Dulski had some other opinions on the increasing cost of a college education. He said he
wasnt ever too worried about the tuition at SRU, but he said he has an issue with the way
scholarships are handled.
I find it really hard to get a scholarship here, said Dulski. I had one for my first two
years and then they said the money ran out.
He said that hes always had really good grades and works his butt off but hasn't been
rewarded for it, at least in the form of scholarships.

Another thing that Dulski was adamant about was the importance of the help that he
receives from his family.
College would be impossible for me without the support I get from my family, said
Dulski.
He said that he understands that not everyone is always in the same position that
hes in receiving help from his family, but that in his case its a huge help.
Dulski had a little more intimate knowledge of what some of the fees in the bill actually
go towards. He said that he used to be a community assistant in one of the dorms on campus and
could physically see some of our fee dollars being spent on different things.
All three of the students thus far have had part time jobs to help pay for expenses related
to school. 20 year old junior Michala Gallo does not, and for good reason. She said that her
major of Therapeutic Recreation simply doesn't allow for it. She is part of a whole separate
group of students whose school work doesnt leave them any time to devote to a part time job.
Daily expenses can turn out to be a little more difficult for them, Gallo said.
I never know when Im going to have to be here or there volunteering for something, so
I cant commit to a part time job, said Gallo with her many decorative pieces of jewelry
shimmering in the sun on the stoop of her apartment building.
Gallo said that she works with her grandpa at his restaurant in the summer but without a
set schedule at school, she cant do it from fall to spring. She said that she doesnt really notice
the increase in tuition because the bulk of her bill is paid for in the form of grants and financial
aid. She explained that a lot of this is due to the fact that her parents are divorced. Because of
this, she has a harder time relating with the students who have to pay for their school.

It doesnt really affect me the same way it affects other students who are paying for their
education out of their own pockets, Gallo said.
Gallos thoughts on where the money is actually going were a little more pointed than the
others.
They say the money is supposed to benefit us, but I don't see it, Gallo said.