Tuition for the 2012-2013 year will be $42,500—a 3.8 percent increase over tuition for the 2011-2012 year—announced Barbara Feiner, vice chancellor for finance, on Thursday. It is an increase of $1,550 from the 2011-2012 year’s tuition of $40,950.

Most people would generally agree that college tuition is expensive. We might even nod our heads to affirm that our college is more expensive than most. Even with the financial aid packages, the amount due every semester is by no means puny.

Tuition for the 2012-2013 year will be $42,500, a 3.8% increase from the 2011-2012 year, announced Barbara Feiner, vice chancellor for finance on Thursday.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton responded to widespread unease over the rising cost of a Washington University education by assuring students that he is committed to keeping tuition hikes reasonable while maintaining high educational quality.

Washington University received another commendation from a national review that accessed overall college experience. The Princeton Review awarded the University with a “best value distinction,” a title given to 50 private and 50 public universities based on 30 components categorized within three principal classifications: academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid factors.

Washington University has set undergraduate tuition for the 2011-2012 academic year at $40,950, a 3.9 percent increase from $39,400 tuition for the current academic year. Barbara Feiner, vice chancellor for finance, made the announcement in a news release on Thursday.

The tuition crisis is worsening as the fees for attending both public and private institutions continue to rise at a pace far exceeding the rate of inflation.

Wash. U. certainly isn’t unique in its high cost. Nearly 50 colleges and universities in the CampusGrotto ranking topped the $50,000 mark, and 43 more demand upwards of $40,000. Nationwide, average college tuition has increased at three times the rate of inflation for the last two decades. And strikingly, despite its high cost, only about 60 percent of Wash. U. students receive financial aid.

The Emergency Support Team, better known as EST to the rest of us, is one of the main lines of defense on Wash. U.’s campus against our occasional mishaps. This leads us to question why Student Health Services (SHS) would cut EST funding by $8,000.