Written by The Chimes Staff
L.A. is one of the most diverse, opportunity-rich cities in the country. The benefits go beyond proximity to Disneyland and the beach – there are world-class corporations for graduates of virtually any major. It’s a prime spot for Biola.
But then there’s the downside. Compare the cost of attending Biola – around $35,000 every year if you’re living on campus – to the cost of a small, Christian liberal arts school in, say, Kansas, and be prepared for sticker shock. They pay way less.
L.A. is a city with one of the highest cost of living indices in the country, according to the ACCRA cost of living index. At 53 percentage points above the national average, it’s hardly behind Manhattan (112 percentage points above) and San Francisco (77 percentage points above). Compare that to Topeka, Kan., where the total cost of living is 8 percentage points below the national average.
At Biola, where 58 percent of the budget goes straight to wages and benefits for staff and faculty who live in this pricey area, it’s no wonder our tuition is breaking the bank.
At our school, 92 percent of our funds come from student revenue and just 8 percent come from outside sources such as donations. If we’re serious about major, expensive projects, such as growing our nursing program and expanding the Torrey program, student tuition is not going to take us there. We need to bring in sources of outside income that can catapult us to new heights.
Hiring President Barry Corey was a forward-looking move on the administration’s part. With major-league fundraising experience on his resume, he can help take some of the burden off cash-strapped Biola families. But more must be done. We need people to come forward and write this institution into their wills, donate their estates, give the big gifts that will kick start the kind of investment portfolio that “keeps on giving” decades into the future.
Biola’s student body ought to reflect the church as a whole. If we’re prohibitively expensive, we’re only going to represent rich Christians. We need to take significant steps to bringing in the socioeconomic diversity that would enlighten our thinking. If we don’t, we risk being an elitist university, and that would be all it takes to miss out on our mission completely.
