By The United States’ financial commitment to Ukraine in its war against Russia has been substantial, yet the rising cost of tuition for American students continues to burden many.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has lasted over three years, pushing Ukrainians to their limits. Despite billions in aid, military equipment and training, they have lost a fifth of their country and risk losing more.
After Russia invaded and occupied Crimea in 2014, the U.S. committed $19 billion by Sept. 2022 with $16.2 billion given to Ukraine between Feb. and Sept. 2022. Additionally, the U.S. provided thousands of rounds of ammunition and military equipment.
“It’s a structural security motivation rather than a political motivation. The main issue is that Russia invading Ukraine destabilizes Europe,” Charles Mahoney, professor of political science at Long Beach State, said.
“The U.S. for a long time has viewed security and stability in Europe as essential to its national interest, and supplying Ukraine with weapons and financial assistance was viewed as a way of containing Russian and further destabilizing Europe,” he said.
The U.S. leads in military aid, having allocated $65.9 billion since the invasion, while the European Union has focused more on financial aid, according to the Department of State.
“When anytime there is any uncertainty in a spot, your economy becomes unstable, when you have a country that invades another country and threatens, say, another portion of the world that is a major trading partner to the United States, that’s gonna create uncertainty, and so that’s why you provide aid to the Ukraine,” Economics Lecturer Mauri Rummel, said.
The latest numbers from the Ukraine Oversight committee shows the total amount of aid appropriated for Ukraine was $182.8 billion between the 2022 and 2025 fiscal years.
However, this aid has been frozen as a part of President Trump’s 90-day audit of foreign aid.
“I think [the foreign aid freeze is] a very bad idea; the world is globalized and, figuratively, a small place, and countries are very interdependent and I think it is a real anachronistic throwback to all of sudden say we need to be isolated,” Mary Caputi, political science professor at CSULB, said. “I think the democratic countries of the world should stay united against… Russia, China, North Korea, against all those countries– and it’s troubling that we seem to be going in a different direction.”
While I support reducing foreign aid overall, I understand the political and economic reasons for supporting Ukraine, as Europe is a key trading partner essential for the U.S. economy. However, foreign aid should not take priority over higher education.
Spending large amounts of American tax money on war sets a dangerous precedent. While the fear of growing authoritarianism is valid, so are attacks on higher education, which is often the first target of such regimes.
The CSU system is raising tuition over the next five years to stabilize its budget. But the CSU should not need to raise tuition for financial stability when the federal government has the resources to provide funding.
Although it is the state government that provides funding for the CSU, if the federal government can invest nearly $2 billion in defense companies in California, it can also fund higher education.
CSULB had a budget of $560 million for the 2023-2024 school year, with the total CSU budget at $7.25 billion.
The Department of Defense has a budget of $1.71 trillion, or 15.8% of the federal budget, while the Department of Education’s budget is $82.4 billion, about 3% of the federal budget. It is no wonder why the cost of tuition is so high in the country.
The government directs more resources to the military and foreign aid than to higher education. Reallocating money from the DOD into higher education should be the government’s focus, not abolishing the DOE.
The U.S. must prioritize higher education; if billions can be dedicated to Ukraine, more can be given to students in California and across the nation.
