President Joseph Aoun announced he is not in favor of tuition freezes – an idea that’s been thrown around in local and national politics lately – at a Student Government Association Senate meeting last Monday. Instead, he said he supports a financial aid increase to accompany and cover tuition increases.

His logic follows that putting a cap on tuition would also put a cap on financial aid, and financial aid allows for a more diverse student body because, “We have students who throughout their studies are facing financial difficulties.” So raising tuition every year makes it easier for diverse students – assuming “diverse” means of different financial standing in this context – to come here.

Tuition has risen 3.8 to 3.9 percent each year over the past five years. The financial aid over that time has doubled. While it does follow that financial aid burgeons along with tuition, it’s hard to buy that the motive behind tuition increases is the benefit of lower income students and families. It’s fundamentally illogical – especially coming from the mouth of a man who’s personal pay has risen at a much more exorbitant rate than tuition (11 percent from last year to this year).

The university should take more time to explain the tuition/financial aid dichotomy to its students, especially in the face of a government seeking to help students by capping tuition.

The Obama administration is working on a proposal that would encourage states to keep tuition from increasing, as well as require public universities to be more transparent with finances. This proposal has taken a lot of heat, and many write it off as a cheap way to gain support of college-aged voters and middle class families trying to make ends meet. Still, it’s something; an acknowledgement that the price of college, and subsequently, the heft of student loan debt, is getting out of hand. The Obama administration has also threatened to curtail federal aid to universities that don’t limit their tuition increases, and shifting it to those who do, according to a Feb. 21 Associated Press report.

If the university is really raising tuition with our best interests in mind, they should take the time to explain that to the student body, because the Obama administration’s plan seems far more logical initially.

Northeastern may be right on this one, and as Aoun is chairman of The American Council of Education, the impact of this mentality could reach farther than Northeastern.

With total student loan debt greater than credit card debt for the first time, according to a Feb. 13 Boston Globe article, this issue is important. The Northeastern administration should be more open with us in how they address it. It’s not enough to just say that financial aid will cover the increase in tuition.