On college campuses all across the country, annual tuition increases have become as normal as exam stress and frat parties.

Unfortunately, UD is not an exception, but a prime example of this trend.

A recent study by The College Board showed 2009-2010 tuition increases at private universities averaged 4.4 percent. The UD administration certainly did their part with a hearty 4.98 percent increase. Is this only a one-year increase? No. Tuition and fees for the 2005-2006 academic year was $22,046. A mere four years later, tuition and fees for 2009-2010 had increased 30.14 percent to $28,690. The consumer price index rose less than 10 percent during this same time frame, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor. At UD's current rate, the tuition for my senior year, 2012-2013, will exceed $35,000.

To compound this problem, scholarships lose value over time as the fixed dollar awards diminish relative to the skyrocketing tuition rates. The gap between tuition and fees and my scholarship will have grown by over $7,000 by my senior year.

A much more equitable system would tie scholarships to a percentage of the tuition rate. That way, as the tuition increases, students and families will not be forced to bear an increasing burden.

As UD students, we must ask ourselves, when have the tuition increases gone too far? If a family struggles to afford a UD education during their child's freshman year, the increases in tuition will almost inevitably make the cost of a UD education prohibitive before graduation.

The projected cost of a UD education for our children or even grandchildren is astronomical if tuition continues to increase at its current rate.

When are the costs of a UD education so high that it does not align with our Marianist values? When does it stop?