Enrolling at the University of Denver was no easy choice. My parents created spreadsheets accounting for scholarships, loans, their contributions and my salary. We agreed that the only way I’d be able to pay for college was to work part time and put most of my earnings towards paying for the next quarter. 

It was a sacrifice to attend DU for my entire family. We cut back on family trips and expenditures. When I wasn’t in class, I was at work. But it was all budgeted into our plan. They were costs we expected and were willing to make. 

But during my freshman year, I received the first of what would become a handful of emails announcing tuition would be rising. Initially, it scared me. This perfectly composed plan my family and I had been attending to now had to expand and I felt that we were already doing all we could. 

I took out a higher loan, worked harder and cut back even more. Just as I was adjusting, I got an email that tuition would be rising yet again. 

When the provost sent an email two weeks ago that the cost of education would be increasing, I was no longer surprised. Every year DU ups their tuition so these announcements, while dreaded, have become anticipated. 

Multiple seniors have expressed that they’re paying nearly $20,000 a year more than they did when they enrolled at DU from a combination of revoked scholarships, grants or financial aid compounded with continually rising costs. 

Every announcement tells us how difficult of a decision it was for the shareholders to make but we have yet to see an administration that makes the kind of sacrifices they expect their students to make. 

We need to work harder, put ourselves further in debt and reduce personal spending just for Chancellor Heafner to take home over a million dollars a year. 

For comparison, the University of Colorado Boulder’s chancellor earns a salary $829,000, 36 percent less than Haefner, even though their enrollment rate continues to rise while DU’s falls. In April, an audit on the University reported that DU overspends on their administration and underpays their faculty. 

Why are the students expected to sacrifice for a school that, year after year, refuses to make a concession for them?

DU argues that the reason for the higher costs is lower enrollment. But increasing tuition does not appeal to potential students — it only makes DU less accessible and punishes current students for staying.