At $29,998 per year, Wesleyan’s tuition was listed as the private institution with the eighth highest tuition in the country in a recent report featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education an increase of 5.9 percent from last year. Wesleyan ranks seventh in terms of presidential salaries.
College tuition nationwide has seen a major increase for the academic year of 2003-2004. In its annual report entitled, “Trends on College Pricing,” the College Board posted an increase of 14.1 percent in four-year public universities, while four-year private universities rose by 6 percent.
“2003-2004 is the third consecutive year that private four-year colleges have posted an inflation adjusted increase in tuition and fees of 5 percent,” the College Board reported. “The last time tuition grew this rapidly for three years in a row was from 1984 to 1986.”
Several institutions comparable to Wesleyan were listed in the Chronicle’s report. Bowdoin College ranked sixth at $30,120 per year, followed by Brown University at $30,078, and Trinity and Hamilton Colleges ranked as the fourth and fifth most expensive colleges at $30,230 and $30,200 respectively. The tuition figures do not include added costs such as room, board and books.
Fellow member of the Little Three, Williams College, has a tuition figure of $26,326. Financial analysts have reported that schools like Williams are able to offer lower tuition because of substantial endowments.
“Up in Maine, about 50 percent of Bowdoin’s annual revenue comes from tuition,” stated a Nov. 5 CNN Money report. “Less than one-third of well-endowed Harvard’s money, in contrast, comes from tuition.”
Like Bowdoin, Wesleyan relies on tuition for 60 percent of annual revenues. The endowment covers another 20 percent, while alumni and outside gifts provide 10 percent. The leftover percentage comes from miscellaneous sources. If these sources prove insufficient, tuition must cover the difference.
“The tuition increase for 2003-04 helped meet our financial aid commitments and cover costs of faculty and staff salary increases and other uncontrollable expenses such as health insurance and utilities,” said Vice President for Finance and Administration Marcia Bromberg.
Bromberg added that while tuition will inevitably rise each year, she hopes that increases will not be as significant in the future.
In many respects, tuition change is a reflection of the market and the subsequent yield of the endowment. Due to the slow economy in the last few years, the endowment has shown a decrease in performance in the market, which has resulted in the sharp increase in tuition at Wesleyan and nationwide.
The rise in tuition also comes at a time when salaries of top university administrators, and especially the presidents, have had a large increase. As published by Wesleyan in an annual 990 Form, President Doug Bennet receives a salary of $364,540, which includes his benefit package and salary. The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Bennet seventh among liberal arts colleges in their annual survey of presidential pay.
Of the top seven officials at Wesleyan, the total salary, including benefits, comes to $1,548,755.
Bromberg refuted any impact of such salaries on the increase of tuition or on financial aid services.
“Salaries for top administrators comprise an insignificant portion of
Wesleyan’s $141 million operating budget—they are not the driver for tuition increases,” she said.
Bromberg also spoke to the mediating influence of financial aid.
“We are need blind, meet full need and are competitive on aid packages with similar institutions,” she said.
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