A recent Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate survey has demonstrated the impact that the economic downturn is having on students' ability to afford a college education.
The survey, which was conducted between March 4 and March 20, revealed that 9.6 percent of respondents had come close to leaving Tufts within the past year for financial reasons.
"We don't have anything to compare that to, but for me, I thought that was a pretty high number," TCU President Duncan Pickard said. "It's numbers like that and personal stories that ... kind of pique my interest."
Meanwhile, 42.5 percent of respondents reported that they were concerned about their parents' ability to financially support their education through 2010.
According to Pickard, the Senate has limited control over easing these concerns. "We can't really do much about tuition, but we can help students connect with cheaper outlets for books and we can advocate for lower food costs," he said.
Pickard also pointed to this week's Senate decision to eliminate ticket costs for next year at events sponsored and performed by TCU-recognized groups next year.
TCU Treasurer Matthew Shapanka argued that the statistics should prompt the Senate to better serve students.
"It means that Senate needs to prioritize the needs of students better than it does," he said.
Still, he said that this does not mean donating to financial aid.
"[The Senate] is about student life. We're not about whether or not a student can afford to stay at Tufts, but we're here to make sure that students have an equal opportunity to participate in student life while they're here," he said. "We need to focus on what's within our power to do."
Like Pickard, he underscored book and ticket costs. "These are things that are really consequential," he said.
Also in the financial arena, a sizeable minority of students (26.2 percent) said they were either somewhat or very dissatisfied with the clarity and transparency of financial aid at Tufts. Still, in that category, a plurality (49.5 percent) of respondents had no opinion.
For the most part, the Senate uses its surveys for feedback and guidance rather than as an impetus for new initiatives.
"The survey is not something used to cause change," TCU Senator Dan Pasternack, a sophomore who compiled the survey results, said.
Still, it can be used to measure interest in projects already under consideration. One question, for example, asked students whether they would prefer to use a student-run campus safety escort service or the one operated by the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD).
In response, 43.1 percent of those polled said they would prefer a student option, as compared to 29.9 percent who opted for TUPD and 27 percent who did not express an opinion.
Senators have been looking into the possibility of buying a car and hiring students to run a safety escort service, but Pasternack said the survey results were not conclusive enough to spur any definitive action.
In at least one instance, however, the results did translate directly into policy, according to Pickard, who said that senators place a high premium on the survey.
After 84 percent of respondents said they do not use the Boston Bus Shuttle, senators decided not to continue the service, Pickard said.
A number of questions on the survey also polled students on residential issues. A total of 59.6 percent of respondents indicated that they were either somewhat or very satisfied with their residential experiences, a result that Pasternack said disproves the stereotype that most students are unhappy with residential facilities.
Another question asked students whether they would rather live on or off campus if housing were provided for all four years. In response, 47.3 percent of students said on campus, while 35.7 percent preferred off campus and the rest did not have an opinion.
Pasternack saw that result as an affirmation that current on-campus housing supplies are not enough to meet demand.
"It shows that a lot of our students do want to live on campus," he said.
While some questions on the survey led to surprise results, other answers were predictable, according to Pasternack, who mentioned the 84 percent of students who rarely or never listen to WMFO.
"A lot of their listenership isn't students, but members of the [local] communities," he said.
Compared to this fall's survey, last month's exercise was marked by relatively low turnout, with only 21.6 percent of the student body participating. In the fall, 31.4 percent of students had sent in a completed survey.
Pasternack attributed the higher response rates from last semester to a referendum that took place on the fall survey on what restaurants to add to the Merchant Off-Campus Partners (MOPs) program.
Matt Repka and Rob Silverblatt contributed reporting to this article.
