In the March 29, 1995 issue of The Johnsonian, the staff broke down that year’s tuition and academic fees for students.
In 1995, full time Winthrop students were charged $3,620 per semester for tuition–approximately $120 per credit hour. One dollar in 1995 is now worth ninety seven cents more, meaning that this semester of tuition would be equivalent to paying almost eight thousand dollars in 2023. While this is a similar price to what current students are paying, today’s tuition is slightly higher than the calculated inflated price. It is unknown, however, whether or not this price was for in-state residents or those moving from a different part of the country.
In 2023, full time students are paying $7,653. The projected inflation rate of the 1995 tuition is $508 cheaper than the price we are currently paying. While this is understandable due to Winthrop’s rise in maintenance, it does not bode well for the future Winthrop students in thirty years.
The financial market has crashed five times since 1995, meaning that the value of American currency has shifted significantly. While the overall projected tuition cost and the actual rate students in 2023 are paying are not that far off, the culture surrounding these two decades’ tuition is vastly different. Students in 1995 could work part time and pay off this debt relatively easily, modern students are almost required to work at least one job just to make ends meet–let alone pay tuition on top of living costs.
If the past twenty-seven years are indicative of how the next twenty-seven will go, future generations of Winthrop students are in for quite the challenge. Both American and global financial history has been made repeatedly since 1995–from the rise of cryptocurrency to a global pandemic–so it will be surprising to see how much Winthrop’s tuition will cost in 2050.
Winthrop has undergone more maintenance in the last few years due to building deterioration and the increasing need to keep technology up to date. With these changes comes a higher tuition for students. As the twenty-first century progresses, what changes will need to be made in order to keep the campus modernized?
With the demolition of Richardson and Wofford, Winthrop will need to build newer residence halls in order to keep up with the high number of underclassmen that they admit annually. These incoming freshmen and sophomores will most likely need to pay a higher rate in order for the university to offset the construction prices. It is unknown, however, whether these new buildings will cost more to live in when compared to the older dormitories that will still be on campus.
Within the next thirty years, there will undoubtedly be a rise in student’s tuition as Winthrop tries to maintain a profit while the value of money continues to decrease. How this will impact Rock Hills community is yet to be determined, but the on-campus culture could potentially become more capitalistic as students are trying to make extra money in order to pay off their tuition with a national currency that holds little value.
