Bernell DorroughThousands of Washington University students recently received letters outlining and explaining increases in the cost of attendance for the 2004-2005 academic year.
Undergraduate tuition rose $1,400 (4.9 percent) to a new total of $29,700. The required student activity fee, calculated as one percent of tuition costs, increased $14 to $297, while the student health fee jumped $79 (16.8 percent) to $549. Housing costs for new dorm doubles increased $362 (6.0 percent) to $6,402, while the full meal plan’s cost increased $74 (1.9 percent) to $3,890.
In short, undergraduates living in newer doubles with full meal plans next fall will pay $10,292 for room and board alone, bringing the final tally to $40,838 per academic year.
Graduate students in the Schools of Arts & Sciences, Architecture, and Engineering & Applied Science face identical increases and totals in tuition fees. Other graduate students face tuition increases ranging from 4.0 percent in the School of Art to 6.0 percent for first-year students in the School of Law. The School of Medicine plans to release its revised tuition figures in March.
The University has announced similar price hikes each year for the past two years.
“I can’t fathom a need for this year’s increase, especially considering that they also raised prices last year,” said sophomore Thomas Goldstein.
Vice Chancellor for Finance Barbara Feiner tried to shed some light on how the University determines changes in its tuition costs.
“We look at the tuition of our peer universities because we don’t want to charge a whole lot more than they do,” Feiner said, “We also look at family income and wealth, but most important is our budgetary needs. In the five undergraduate schools, tuition accounts for more than 60% of our operating revenue.”
In his letter to students and their families, Executive Vice Chancellor Edward Macias cited reasons for the increased cost of attendance. Included were the costs of new construction, renovation, faculty compensation, curricular development, and technological endeavors.
Macias wrote that the Laboratory Sciences Building, Uncas A. Whitaker Hall, the new Earth & Planetary Sciences building, and planned construction of the Sam Fox Arts Center all contribute to the rising costs.
Some students feel that renovation should take priority over new construction.
“I think that a lot of the buildings are deteriorating, [including the biology laboratory building]. I think there’s a lot that can be fixed,” said freshman Duncan White. “That should take place before new construction.”
To that end, the University spent $38 million in renovating the John M. Olin Library. The construction of new student housing was another topic Macias noted in his letter. University House opened just this fall, and Eliot Hall was razed last summer so that construction for a replacement dormitory with a health service center could commence.
These improvements are certainly welcome, but some students feel that the cost of living on the South 40 is a bit excessive.
“With the amount of money you pay to live on campus, you can actually get a really nice apartment,” said junior Artie Qwok. “If you take into consideration the meal plan, you can live quite lavishly.”
Macias also explained that since 1995, 132 new professorships have been awarded. Still, he wrote that “additional compensation [is] necessary to attract and retain the very best faculty.”
Tuition funds are also used to introduce new academic programs as well as maintain existing ones. With programs in place, the University is looking to technology as a means of providing students with the tools to plan and organize their courses and majors. Other technological costs include computer labs, wireless access points, and online course management tools like Telesis.
“Ultimately,” Macias wrote, “the measure of how well we do will be the value of a Washington University degree.”
“I think the price hikes are necessary to keep climbing the rankings,” said sophomore Daniel Paull, “As shallow as it sounds, high rankings will steadily increase the value of our degrees.”
While U.S. News ranked the University No. 9 this year, Kiplinger, another large magazine publisher, recently ranked the University No. 16 for quality of education and No. 26 for overall value. Kiplinger’s comparison draws from a pool of all private colleges, whereas U.S. News’ comparison separates schools according to the types of degrees offered.
For those who wish to discuss these developments further, Student Union is sponsoring a forum scheduled for Feb. 14 at which officials including Chancellor Wrighton and the Head of Student Financial Services will be present to answer questions.