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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1999)
Tuition transformation ■ A clause in the 14th Amendment could change how out-of-stale students pay for school Friends, Iowans, Kansans: Lend me your ears! But if you’re a Nebraskan, then lend me your checkbook. Non-resident students could finally be in luck. The shaft that UNL has been giving us for years may be rightly given back. Residency requirements for tuition and other programs could soon be a thing of the past. Privileges and Immunities Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court unearthed a clause in the 14th Amendment that opened-the door for the residency requirement to be struck down. In Saenz vs. Roe, the court annulled a California welfare restriction on new comers to the state. 1 he rule required rirst-year residents to receive the same amount of benefits they would have gained in their previous state. So a family that moved to California from Mississippi would not receive the generous $673 monthly check from the Golden State; instead they would get a $144 payment. The discrepancy was one that created a seri ous hardship for a family moving from a state with low-paying benefits to the high-cost coast. In the ruling, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that “a State cannot enact durational residency requirements in order to inhibit the migration of needy persons into the State.” The court looked to the 14th Amendment for its constitutional grounds, reading, “No State shall make or enforce any law which abridges the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” This portion of the amendment, known as the “privileges and immunities” clause, has been dormant for decades. It was enacted in 1868, but within seven years, interpretations by the Supreme Court had rendered it impotent. This was a clause created to limit govern ment power but was quickly overpowered by government and shoved aside. The 14th Amendment has given us “due process” and “equal protection.” But Saenz finally gives resi dents privileges and immunities that they have not had. It Just Makes Saenz Besides calling this relatively small state welfare rule unconstitutional, the Saenz decision does much more. The verdict affirms the com mon belief that citizens of the United States have a right to travel. Justice Stevens says that the right to travel “is not found in the text of the Constitution” but is “firmly imbedded in our jurisprudence.” He explains that the clause has three compo nents of travel protection. “It protects the right of a citizen of one State to enter and to leave anoth er State, the right to be treated as a welcome visi tor rather than an unfriendly alien when tem porarily present in the second State, and, for those travelers who elect to become permanent residents, the right to be treated like other citi zens of that state.” That last component is the one with the biggest effect. The July 12 issue of Legal Times says that because of Saenz, “Challenges will likely be brought against virtually all state resi dency requirements for programs or benefits.” Basically, a state cannot treat new citizens differently than it treats older citizens. And if a program exhibits preference on the basis of length of residency, it will be deemed unconsti tutional. Tuition Discrimination One of the most obvious ways that state agencies discriminate against these new resi dents is with university tuition. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln charges non-resident under graduates $ 150.25 more per credit hour than it does residents. That means that the average non-resident pays about $4,500 per year more than the aver age Nebraskan. It’s a serious difference that means big money. UNL Law Professor Richard Duncan says, “This is unequal treatment. It’s the idea that when you come here we don’t allow you to become an equal citizen of our state.” The Saenz case seems to mandate a rectification of this inequality. Most scholars opposed to this application of Saenz make the argument that education is a portable benefit, which allows for legal discrimi nation. “They try to distinguish tuition rates from welfare rates,” Professor Duncan said. “Education is a benefit that you can come into a state, capture and then leave, taking all of the benefit with you.” But the Saenz case dealt with food and nutri tion, which are equally as portable. “In one sense they are consumed, just as the student consumes the classes and lectures, but in another sense it sustains you and is portable,” Duncan said, “The nutrition physically sustains your body, and you can take that stronger body with you to another state, just as the student can take that greater intellectual development to another state.” And As For The Benjamins Nearly 20 percent of the campus is deemed to be “non-residents” by the admissions office. So an eventual ruling against non-resident tuition hikes could have serious financial impli cations for all major public universities, includ ing UNL. Based on reports from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, 3,988 UNL students are non-residents, including graduate U So all we need is a student who feels he or she is being discriminated against by the residency guidelines. and professional students. The estimated tuition (full time) that they pay exceeding resident tuition is $15,680,400. So if the court eliminated new resident discrimination, UNL would have to find nearly $16 million to operate at its current level or make some drastic cuts. And that’s only assuming non-residents wouldn’t flood the state and severely change the percentage of residents in attendance. If the uni versity raised tuition across the board to com pensate for the new deficit, each resident would be paying $708 more than he does currently. That’s probably $23.60 per credit hour for the average full-time student. The recent tuition hike was 5.4 percent for undergraduates; this increase would be more than 27 percent. The former non-residents would be saving probably around $3800 each year. And for the average college student, that’s quite a chunk of change. There is only one obstacle stopping the court from applying Saenz to tuition - time. After a case is brought to trial in the state, it will take at least two to three years for it to reach _ the U.S. Supreme Court. Even then, the case will have to be precisely what the court is looking for even to be heard. So all we need is a student who feels he or she is being discriminated against by the residen cy guidelines. If you fit the mold, and you’re tired of paying an extra five grand a year because your parents live somewhere else, get a lawyer. And get ready to set another precedent. J.J. Harder is a senior political science and broadcasting major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist Rise and shine Open your eyes and live life to its fullest It’s a life for the alert and the strong, the pre pared. It’s not a life for the sleeper. Wake up! You’re sleeping. And many of us continue to do so. While meandering through the roads of mortality, I run into pot holes. I stumble and fall. And why? What are all the curves in the road for? Recently, I was the object of a stunning rev elation: “I’m sleeping my life away!” I know I’ve always had a problem being dependable toward anything that didn’t directly concern me. When on the job site, I performed better than any peer around - in quality, quantity and perseverance. But the problem is actually getting to the job. I wondered why I should go. What’s the point? They don’t actually need me. They’re over staffed, they’re paranoid, etc. The list goes on and on. I’m quite good at explaining things away. I’ve often slept for 15 hours straight and not thought anything of it. Getting to bed at 4 a.m. and sleeping until 5 p.m. was a common occur rence. No big deal. So I’m just lazy, right? No. I’m not. In fact, I enjoy hard work to a pathetic degree. You might say I get a sort of high out of being busy. Very few feats in life compare to the thrill of writing a 50-page paper. Of scrubbing a bathroom floor until it shines to perfection. Yeah, I’m probably obsessive compulsive, but all great workers are. Wasn’t Hitler? Wasn’t Nixon? Isn’t Mr. Green? OK. Probably not the best examples. The fact of the matter is, I was giving in to a spirit of complacency. And many of you out there today are as well - to many varying degrees. How many times do we walk past the squir rels without pondering their existence? How do they function within such a small spectrum? How can creatures so tiny be so annoying and yet find time to reproduce with such vigor? Sad wonderings, yes. But without these smaller speculations, we are ultimately missing the finer points of the larger speculations. Contrary to what we often think, we ARE here for a reason. Our existence is often spent in a continual daze. I’m talking deeper than the Monday morn ing after, guys. Let’s get philosophical for a moment. Let us make the assumption that God creat ed us. Let us fiirther go on a hunch to say that we have free will. So, what is the point? You go to school as a kid, with your primary goal of fitting in with the appropriate clique. You hope you make it to college. You try to do your best there to ultimately get a good pay ing job. Maybe throw in a spouse and a few kids to make it interesting. Think about it. Your search for knowledge is not the goal, it’s the means used to get there. Think. You do not care about money. It’s nice, but does it truly satisfy you? Once these supposed fulfillments are eliminated from validity, what’s left? What’s the point? The point is, my friends, simple. You wanna know, don’t you? Am I leading you on yet? Don’t worry. I’m not a tease. Here goes. As Christians, we are set upon the earth to praise God to the highest degree possible. Our lives should be one, long, continual glo rification of Him. That is our purpose. And it’s often hard. I’m not gonna say it’s an easy life. It’s a life for the dedicated. A life for the per severant, the awake. It’s a life for the alert and the strong, the prepared. It’s not a life for the sleeper. But this life is also the most rewarding, pro viding immediate and eternal rewards. And the point of this life dedicated to serv ing Christ is all-encompassing. You cannot give it half your life. It requires all. —That is the point. When you make this praise the goal of your existence, you will not find there is time to be wasted. Time spent enjoying His presence and work ing toward it will envelop the mundane. Life does have a point. However, you may disagree with the basis of our origins that I have presented here. >es at Go ahead and insist that life is made to be lived to the glorification of self Good luck! I have no answer for you. Life will still be hard for you. Egotism can’t quiet the qualms you feel deep within. Life will still be hard for me. I can’t control outside circumstances that come my way. But I’ll have help along the way. If you can honestly say that you never have a nagging in the pit of your stomach, in the bot tom of your spirit, so be it. If you find the sporadic existence you live, day after day after day, to be fulfilling, good for you - for now. I don’t envy you. Keep living. Keep marching. Keep sleeping. My only desire is that someday soon you will trake up.. I All of us need to wake up. t We need to grasp the “meaning of life” (ah yes, let us embrace existentialism to its fullest). Let us live up to fulfilling the point of our existence. In the moment of now. We need to do it and do it soon. It is time. Catch up on those vital hours of sleep. Arrange your schedule to fit in the actuality of living. But do it now! The alarm will sound. Jessica Eckstein is a junior communications studies major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
