In a bid for greater affordability, University of Denver leaders pledged to lower tuition for masters students in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies from about $53,000 to $38,000 per year in 2020.

Now a group of alumni who paid the old rate is asking the private school to refund them the difference, citing the loan debt they now face.

More than 120 DU alumni signed onto a letter sent Monday to Fritz Mayer, dean of the Josef Korbel School, asking the university to pay them back $15,000 per year of enrollment.

“We acknowledge and appreciate that the tuition reduction will help reduce barriers to entry within higher education and enable more aspiring and diverse students to pursue a career in international studies,” the letter reads. “However, we would be remiss not to mention that we, as recent Korbel graduates, are under the intense strain of student loan debt.”

In a statement to The Denver Post, Mayer said the school is sympathetic to student debt and hopes the tuition reduction will make DU more affordable and reduce the amount of debt future students incur.

“That said, we are confident that we met all our educational responsibilities to these students and provided a strong foundation for their future success,” Mayer said.

Mayer said it’s a best practice for universities to evaluate their programs and “ensure their alignment with the evolving needs of professionals and the realities of the marketplace.”

“We are confident that those changes will not only maintain but indeed increase the quality of those programs and enable us to recruit a more diverse population of students,” Mayer said.

Amy Czulada, who earned her master’s degree from the Korbel School in 2017, helped write the letter and recruit other alumni to sign it after receiving a December email from her alma mater about the tuition drop.

“That was both an exciting and bittersweet moment because although I think they’re democratizing education to a degree so people who might not be able to receive one could receive one, it also reminded me that I had to pay that extra $15,000,” Czulada said. “Maybe that $15,000 is really meaningful to people in a make-it-or-break-it moment when people are deciding whether they can afford this education, but I think, likely, it’s not.”

More than 761,000 Coloradans are repaying $27.7 billion in student loan debt, according to household debt statistics from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In 2018, 56% of Colorado public institution graduates with a certificate or associate degree left school with debt — the average debt amounting to $13,300. For a bachelor’s degree during the same time frame, 69% of graduates from a public institution ended their academic career with debt, averaging $25,500, according to statistics from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

Yessenia Prodero, a 2017 Korbel School graduate, also signed her name to the letter.

When Prodero heard about the reduction in tuition, the Boston resident said her heart dropped.

Prodero works three jobs — a Trader Joe’s shift on the weekends and as a labor organizer for two nonprofit groups during the 40-hour workweek — so she can chip away at her $90,000 in student debt while living with family. The 31-year-old said she can’t fathom being able to afford a house in the foreseeable future.

“I was thinking how much less I would be in debt now if I had had that reduction,” Prodero said. “So much of my income goes toward my debt. I’m mostly upset that it’s so easy for them to lower it. Why couldn’t they do it for us? If it’s a respected and reputable institution, they should definitely take care of their own.”