U. tuition to increase by 5.5 percent

Moravian Academy '93 Allentown, Pa. The University's Board of Trustees approved a 5.5 percent increase in tuition and fees for undergraduate students at its annual budget briefing in March. The jump, which is the lowest percentage increase in more than 20 years, raises the total cost of undergraduate tuition and fees from $18,856 for the 1994-95 academic year to $19,898 for 1995-96. University President Judith Rodin said the total proposed cost increase for undergraduates is only four percent, because neither Residential Living nor Dining Services charges will go up. The average total cost to undergraduates -- which includes tuition, mandatory fees, plus room and board -- will be $26,864 for the upcoming academic year. Vice President for Finance Stephen Golding said the University's Board of Trustees requested lower tuition hikes several years ago. "The Trustees have mandated that we have a declining rate of increase in our tuition, and we have tried to honor that for the last five to six years now," Golding said. He added that the University also has to consider declining or stagnant revenues from other sources of funding in determining tuition increases. "We're trying to decrease our overall rate of tuition [increases], but we're doing it with an eye toward the other revenues, which are not growing at the rates at which they grew a few years ago," Golding said. He pointed to potential cutbacks in federal indirect cost recoveries and static state funding as examples of such sources of funding. For the 1994-95 academic year, the University was the fourth most expensive school in the Ivy League, when all costs were taken into account. The University's 5.7 percent increase in tuition and mandatory fees for 1994-95 was on par with increases across the Ivy League, which saw an average tuition and fee hike of 5.8 percent. Acting Budget Director Ben Hoyle said the University would like to get the rate of growth in unrestricted funds -- donated money that the University can use for any purpose -- in line with increases in tuition and fees. He also wants more of the funding for financial aid to come from the University's endowment. "The faster the unrestricted fund grows, the less the University has to invest in other services," Hoyle said. Approximately $43 million of the total financial aid grant of $47.1 million comes from unrestricted funds, the main source of which is tuition, Hoyle said. This money is given primarily in the form of direct grants from the University to financially needy students, Hoyle said. The majority of financial aid comes from Penn Grant funds, he said. University-wide revenues are expected to rise by 4.7 percent for fiscal 1996, Hoyle said, despite the fact that the incoming Class of 1999 is expected to have 50 fewer students than the current freshman class. The reduction in class size has been mandated by the Trustees due to concern over the University's student-faculty ratio, which is higher than that of peer institutions.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.