Why are MSU Dorms so Expensive?

During my time at MSU, a new dining hall has been completed, recreational facilities improved and two residence halls built from the ground up. It’s easy to blame the exorbitant cost of dorm living on the constant improvements, often viewed as excessive (for example, the digital stock exchange display in Jabs Hall). Yet, in doing so, we fail to understand the full picture.

On average, it costs $5,465 per semester to live on-campus at MSU, based on the current dorm prices. This equates to $1,093 per month, including the cost of food. In contrast, most students can find housing in Bozeman for around $400 to $500 per month, the overall cost falling far below that of dorm pricing, even considering food and utilities. So, why the large discrepancy?

The 2016 financial statements for MSU list the revenues from housing and university food services as $21,827,221 and $21,035,555, respectively. However, the operational expenses of the entire university are listed as one lump sum: $152,223,848, lacking specifics as to the expenses directly attributed to housing. This number provides no insight as to the net profits MSU makes from housing and food services alone. While this absence of detail is interesting to consider, the fact doesn’t necessarily paint MSU as the villain. At least not any more so than other American universities.

According to a 2010 article published in Forbes, the biggest factor determining the rising college dorm room prices is competition. Universities strive to provide the best in order to attract not only the brightest students but also, the families willing to pay that hefty price tag in full. To do so requires universities to provide the comfortable accommodations that many students have grown up expecting.

In other words, the price of university services has nothing to do with operational costs.

The cost of housing at MSU simply follows the overall trend for university pricing in the United States. According to The Atlantic, American students pay nearly twice as much as other developed countries. Because college is a service — and arguably a necessary one by mainstream American standards — it doesn’t grow cheaper with technological advances. Instead, the price of college, including the price of dorms, increases as inflation grows and employee salaries rise.

While economics explains the rising costs, they fail to provide insight as to the contrast in prices against the rest of the world. In order to understand this disparity, we must turn to politics.

Most state legislatures have implemented increased budget cuts to education over the years. In contrast, Montana’s educational spending has increased slightly since 2015. Despite this increase and a unique state tax referendum, known as the six-mill levy that provides about $20 million per year to public state universities, Montana still falls below the national average on its spending per student.

So, want to pay less to live on campus? You have to look at the bigger picture of educational costs in America.

As students, we can all agree that college costs far too much for a service that doesn’t even guarantee a job after graduation. Clearly, costs don’t have to be this high. Various other nations have proven so. Instead of taking education at face value, let’s sharpen our bargaining skills and remember that voices and votes are worth more than most think.