Financially, the university seems to be on an upswing.

True, the endowment took a hit this past fiscal year when it lost million, but that figure is in fact a welcome improvement over the previous year's million tumble.

What is more, the university enjoyed its second best fundraising effort of all time last year, and this year's capital campaign has already proven tremendously successful. Enough money poured in during the early stages of the campaign that its initial goal of million has currently been raised to million, and despite the faltering economy, the university's fundraising consultant remains quite optimistic about the chances of meeting this increased projection.

Although funds generated from the capital campaign do not go directly into the tuition-fed operating budget, interest from these gifts does. Perhaps the university should look increasingly towards gifts, and not tuition increases, as a way to supplement the university's operating budget.

One problem raised by this latest increase is that of reconciling such a sizeable tuition hike with the university's goal of attracting more people from an array of socioeconomic backgrounds.

It is becoming harder for families of all financial circumstances to put their children though college, and many families cannot justify sending their child to a private institution with an ever-increasing price tag that sits just down the road from several well-respected and cheaper public universities.

The university has consistently been run as an efficient business that maintains good relations with those who foot the bill. But with continual tuition hikes, these relations will deteriorate, and they might go elsewhere.

The trustees maintain that they make it a priority to match tuition increases with increased financial aid, but this does not necessarily solve the problem. Simply getting a glimpse of an enormous tuition rate on paper is enough to scare away many potential applicants to the university who know that they can spend less elsewhere.

Moreover, 'financial aid' does not translate into 'free,' and students must weigh the benefits of a Wake Forest education against the hassles of work-study programs and post-graduate debts.

Excessive tuition increases affect currently enrolled students, as well. Particularly in a weakened economy, many families plan long-term budgets around the costs of their child's education, and unaccounted-for changes can be difficult to handle.

The university expects students and their families to take news of tuition hikes in stride and with understanding, but then provides few means by which these parties can evaluate how their dollars are being spent.

If more information about the university's budget were made public, then families could point to various budgetary items, decide whether or not the amount of funds allocated to each was in accordance with the best interests of the school and the student, and come away with either peace of mind or justification for their outrage.

The ability to assess the university's spending on a more categorical basis seems especially important when we consider the fact that many items in the budget do not seem to be increasing at the same rate as tuition. Faculty salary has been a particularly prevalent example of this in the past several years.

Tuition increased by 5 percent for this academic year and will increase 7 percent next year. Faculty salaries, however, increased less than 3 percent while faculty health insurance costs increased 24 percent.

As faculty salary directly correlates to the quality of education that the university is able to offer, perhaps some tangible proof that tuition revenues are in fact going towards this cause would help to justify weighty increases.

A priority of the capital campaign is to honor "the promise," endowing professorships and increased student financial aid. However, recent tuition increases appear to run counter to these goals, making it more expensive for many students to attend and devoting less of the increase to faculty salaries.

If one of the university's priorities is to keep tuition low, it does not show. Although the school's overall rating climbed one spot in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of top national universities this year, it also fell one ranking in the magazine's list of "Great Schools at Great Prices."