It’s that time of year again—brace yourself Simpson College, there will be a 4.25 percent increase in tuition for the 2011-12 school year.

That’s an $805 increase per semester. All in all, it could be a lot worse. Simpson is still $700 cheaper than Drake University and $900 cheaper than Wartburg. Furthermore, Simpson will be more than $4,000 cheaper than Luther for the 2011-12 school year

No one ever wants to pay an additional $1,610 a year, but we all made the choice to come to a Liberal Arts college and have a private education.

We have the ability to meet with our teachers one-on-one. We have people who hold us accountable and who know us by name, rather than by an ID number (or not knowing us at all).

In having that relationship with the faculty and staff, and taking advantage of everything that Simpson College has to offer—we’re given opportunities that public, state schools can only dream of experiencing.

The connections you make with faculty and staff while in your four (or more) years at Simpson will set you apart in the job market, and give you an edge in the demanding world of recommendations and needing connections to get ahead.

Yes, there are always gadgets out that can be bought. There are always new cars, new phones, new iPods, so on and so forth, that most college students would love to spend their money on—but the additional money spent on education will pay off in the long run—will your iPod or iPad push you forward in the job market and get you contacts?

By the time you get out of college, your iPod and iPad will be out-of-date and the purchase will have made no sense. You can’t put a value on the contacts that Simpson allows you to make—the people that you meet here and the opportunities that you get here are invaluable.

Besides, paying more for tuition sounds much better than having to pay $75 for a mysteriously-spent graduation fee that was in past years. At least you now know (or at least you have a better understanding of) where your money is going in terms of tuition breakdown.

What’s an extra $1,610 a year when most of us will already be in debt by the time our four years are over?

$1, 610 may seem like a lot—and it’s by no means a small amount—but it’s a price that we all should be willing to pay for our education and our future.