The Board of Trustees decided last month to increase the cost of attendance for the 2004-2005 school year to $40,124. This price, which is approximately five percent more than this year’s costs, includes tuition, a basic one-room double, and subscription to a 12-meal plan.
In a letter sent to parents on April 20, President Bennet emphasized the necessity of having sufficient funds to maintain faculty as well as begin construction on numerous projects around campus.
“Our collective efforts are focused on ensuring the highest quality educational experiences and opportunities for your students,” Bennet said in the letter.
“The biggest share of our cost is salaries and benefits,” said Director of University Communications Justin Harmon. “We need to hire and retain the strongest faculty available to us, and that means we must pay competitive salaries.”
The administration also expressed hopes that an increase in attendance costs will strengthen the financial aid program.
“[We wish to] ensure that the University will remain affordable to talented students without regard to family income,” Bennet wrote.
Elizabeth McCormick, director of Financial Aid, said that students reapply every year for financial aid and that current financial situations are measured against new tuition rates. For this reason, she said that students receiving financial should not be concerned about the decision.
“The financial aid award is based on the cost of attendance for a given year compared to the family’s ability to pay toward those expenses,” McCormick said.
McCormick also suggested that the raise in tuition, in part, is the price of a policy guaranteeing the full demonstrated need of its students.
“One of the major components of the University budget is financial aid,” said McCormick. “Funding for financial aid comes from annual gifts to the university, earnings from endowed funds, federal and state grant sources, as well as some of tuition revenue, all to meet the need of our students on financial aid.”
In his letter to parents, Bennet said that the administration has been doing everything possible to minimize costs. He noted the implementation of more efficient practices in offices, the employment of new mass-vendors, and cuts in other areas of the budget.
“In every area of the institution, we look for, and find, ways to keep our rates of tuition increase as low as possible,” Bennet said. “We have made cuts and realized savings in many areas.”
Efficiency measures for this academic year included the refinancing of loans for telephone and energy management equipment, the employment of new insurance vendors, evaluations and replacements of energy inefficient lighting, and the retraining of custodians. Many energy-saving measures were intended to reduce printing costs, such as the development of an online events calendar.
When asked why the tuition increases annually, Bromberg said that the administration would like to increase its endowment by eight percent over the next several years and that since revenue in gifts is not likely to increase, the trustees must increase the tuition.
“Since we anticipate endowment spending will not increase over the next couple of years, we are relying on tuition increases more than we normally would to help us cover increases in utility costs, insurances, contracted services, financial aid, salary increases and other costs of running the University.”
Harmon added that annual increases in tuition are part of a trend that many colleges and universities experience. Many institutions like Wesleyan, he said, allocate the majority of their funds toward salaries, insurance benefits, and investments in equipment, the prices of which are likely to increase with regularity.
“Annual tuition increases happen because the cost of the education Wesleyan provides go up every year,” Harmon said. “Benefits costs, such as health insurance, tend to increase much faster than the general rate of inflation. So do the prices of books and periodicals for the library.”
Leave a Reply