By Jacob Garza
You might have been asking yourself: “Why are groceries, gas, and tuition so expensive?” Well, inflation is the answer to those lingering questions.
Inflation has affected prices everywhere, but Dominican is no exception.
Over the past year, tuition has seen a slight increase. 2023-2024 undergraduate tuition, fees, and expenses were roughly $18,587.00 while 2024-2025 tuition and fees increased with $19,164.00.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic created various problems within the economic market including the rise of service prices. In 2022, inflation reached 8.5%, which was the highest since 1982.
Mark Titzer, vice president of finance and administration, explained how Dominican has seen the effects of inflation.
“Inflation appears to be a circular economic problem”, he said. “The increase in prices for gas and groceries can be the result of staff asking for pay raises, which can result in a tuition increase.”
Quest and Metro, outside companies working with Dominican, are also experiencing the effects of inflation.
The costs of food and goods the companies buy result in the raise of prices to equal the demand.
Senior Denisse Avila talked about the notice of price changes in the Cyber Cafe.
“Inflation has not affected me personally,” she said. “I am noticing the differences in prices at Cyber and it begins to add on.”
While inflation may not affect students at Dominican because of high prices within the school, students’ everyday lives with their expenses are causing an effect at school.
Yvonne Villegas, a senior majoring in accounting, talked about how her outside expenses have had impacts on school.
“The cost of gas and groceries that I buy are starting to affect school-related things,” Villegas said. “That is why I try to balance my homework with my job. I am working as much as I can to take care of higher expenses.”
Even though inflation is not completely gone, it has since been decreasing. As of December 2023, inflation has fallen to a 3.1% annual rate from its peak of 9.1%.
Titzer said he hoped that once inflation subsided from its high peaks, we could reach back to a soother state.
“My hope is for normal economic standards and growth. We need calm and efficient productivity,” he said. “We are proud of giving quality to our students. The news also plays an important role. The heavy amounts of coverage and wording can scare viewers from buying products.”
