Imani Vincent, Staff Writer

Starting fall 2016, UC will experience its highly publicized tuition reset. All over campus, you can see signs and posters saying “Never Stand still” or, “A Bold move for Tomorrow.” That is just what Utica College is doing, joining over 30 colleges and universities in a much-needed tuition reset.

Although the college is considered a small school, current students still pay big university prices. The tuition at UC in 2014 was $33,964 which including all of the miscellaneous fees and expenses to be a full-time student at UC. Other costs such as expenses associated with living on campus can raise the cost to more than $45,000 a year. Even with great financial aid packages and the abundance of different scholarships, $45,000 is no small cost.

The price of a quality public or private education is expensive for the average American household. According to Collegedata.com, an online source that collects statistics from higher learning institutions all over the United States, said the average household in America spends $48,000 a year to send its children to college.

With UC being right by the average mark, it noticed other colleges beginning the trend of resetting their tuition. Over 50 schools nationwide have started to lower their cost of attendance as early as 2015. Schools that started the trend include Seton Hall University, Ohio Northern University, University of Chicago and Wells College.

Seton Hall University located in South Orange, New Jersey requires incoming freshman to have an accumulated SAT score of 1250 or a 28 on the ACT to qualify for the lowered tuition. They must also be in the top ten percent of their graduating class.

Other schools have various guidelines you must follow in order to become eligible. UC offers the 42 percent discount to all if its full-time students who take more than 12 credits.

Shamar Waters, a freshman studying journalism, had a viewpoint many people can relate to.

“I think it will be beneficial to me because next semester I won’t have to take out as much money in loans,” Shamar Water said. “With the help of HEOP, I think I’ll be able to afford the cost year-to-year. If I didn’t qualify for HEOP, there was no way I was going to attend Utica College, so the discount definitely helps me out.”

College affordability is something that even President Barack Obama has touched on. Even with a large tuition price such as $45,000, UC recently has had its biggest incoming class this past fall with a 38 percent increase in enrollment.

“It’s really pointless for seniors like me because I already paid all the years I’ve been here, so I won’t really be saving any money,” Nikiya Harris, a senior here at Utica College majoring in nursing, said.

Deeply invested in UC, Harris attended the fall Q&A forum at UC with President Todd Hutton.

“I believe that the drop in tuition wouldn’t really change much for the people already here, but for the incoming freshman class it would really be a blessing for them to not have to pay so much to go here,” Harris said.