A 4.9 percent increase in tuition, approved by the Board of Trustees in early March, will bring tuition for ’05/’06 to $32,976. Wesleyan’s tuition will remain the most expensive in Connecticut. An additional 5.4 percent increase in room and board costs bring overall increases to 5 percent, which is on par with cost increases at peer schools across the country.

The higher tuition responds to an 8 percent increase in costs of health insurance for faculty and staff, and 3 percent and 2 percent pay increases for faculty and staff, respectively.

“We know to have the best faculty we need to pay competitively,” said Marcia Bromberg, Vice President for Finance and Administration.

While housing and dining costs will also rise, the Student Activity fee will remain constant at $214.

All told, next year a Wesleyan education will cost a minimum of $42,122, depending on students’ housing and dining choices, but will exceed $43,000 for many.

The cost of all housing options will increase next year, according to a new fee structure that aims to differentiate between the cost of program housing and senior housing.

In residence halls, the cost of a single room will rise 9 percent and a double room will increase 5 percent. Apartment housing will increase 7.6 percent for a single and 7.2 percent for a double, while senior houses will cost 5.6 percent more.

Students living in program housing next year will pay the equivalent of a single or double in a residence hall, whereas this year program houses were substantially more expensive than residence halls. The price of an apartment single or senior house is the most expensive housing option, at $6,508.

Bromberg said the additional housing cost reflects University efforts over the past several years to combat deterioration and install better safety and security systems, in addition to other renovations. She added that Wesleyan had been charging less than similar colleges for housing.

“We were really trying to catch up,” Bromberg said. “We were lagging.”

The price of all dining plans will increase, in anticipation of higher salaries for workers as Aramark and union officials finish contract negotiations in the next month. The all-points plan and the 12-meal plan will cost $3,554, while the 14-meal plan will cost $4,468.

The Finance Department has released preliminary figures for the number of points that will be available for each option. They estimate 300 points yearly for the base 12-meal plan, and 550 points for the 14-meal plan, which are comparable to the number offered this year. No preliminary point totals were indicated yet for the all-points plan. Bromberg said she hopes more points will be available for all dining plans after Wesleyan and Aramark negotiate this spring.

“We’re still trying to figure out what’s affordable,” Bromberg said. “We’re trying to get more points and we believe there will be more.”

The Dining Committee has recommended more points for the base 12-meal plan, according to WSA representative Thomas Coen ’07. He said concerns were brought up this year that the base meal plan, which is automatically is designated to incoming freshmen on financial aid, does not provide adequate points to eat comfortably on campus. Coen added that the Dining Committee did not recommend increasing the number of meals for the base plan, since meals are already underused by students.

Rising energy costs will not affect Wesleyan too harshly, since the University locked its fossil fuel prices a year ago, Bromberg said. However the number of snowfalls and exceptionally cold days this winter has generated high utility costs.

According to Bromberg, the increases are both consistent with past years and reflect growing college costs across the country. Tuition, room, and board increased 4.9, 10, and 5 percent last year at Wesleyan, she said.

Although Wesleyan may be one of the more expensive universities in Connecticut, Bromberg said the price increases are reasonable in comparison to peer schools. On a list of similar schools, Wesleyan’s increases are similar or on the lesser end. Vassar, for example, will see a 7.9 percent increase in tuition next year, according to Bromberg.

Bromberg maintained that Wesleyan works hard to be efficient, especially in regard to the overhead, or administrative costs of the University. Wesleyan spends a higher percent of its budget on academics than any other college, according to Bromberg.

“We challenge each other to be more efficient,” she said.