Laurels & lances: Volunteers and tuition
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Laurel: To finding a fix. One problem with having a volunteer fire department is that fires often happen while your volunteers aren’t available. If everyone is at work at 10 a.m., who is there to respond to a house fire?
Greensburg council has taken steps to address that. On Monday, council approved a resolution that would permit city workers who also are volunteer firefighters to respond during the workday when called upon.
That is a significant decision, as 10 of the city’s 15 public works employees are volunteers.
“We’re very fortunate that we have trained firefighters that work in the City of Greensburg,” fire Chief Tom Bell said.
It is a smart move for the city, based on a similar step taken in Penn Township last year. It wouldn’t address every fire call, but it would allow response to major emergencies.
It also addresses the broader problem of waning volunteer numbers.
Lance: To rising costs. Just when you think college tuition couldn’t get any higher, another school steps in and says, “We’ll see about that.”
Carnegie Mellon University’s tuition already topped $60,000 a year. That means 18-year-olds committing to a bachelor’s degree are signing up to spend about $250,000 over four years. (Let’s remember 18-year-olds are legally not responsible enough to drink a beer but apparently are just fine to bury themselves in student loan debt.)
Now the university’s tuition is going up to $64,500 for the 2024-25 school year. That’s before dorm rooms and food costs and all the other fees that push total cost over $86,000.
Yes, Carnegie Mellon is a private school. Unlike state-related Pitt or Penn State, it doesn’t go begging to the Legislature for an annual stipend. Unlike Indiana University of Pennsylvania or PennWest, it isn’t part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. It is independent and totally free to charge what it wants for an admittedly high-quality educational product.
But, seriously, where does it stop? Eventually, parents will realize they are better off buying their kids real estate than cosigning on student loans. Right now you can get a four-bedroom, four-bath, 2,000-square-foot colonial with a fireplace for less than a four-year degree at Carnegie Mellon.