Tuition increased to over $30,000

Carnegie Mellon's Board of Trustees authorized a 5 percent increase in undergraduate tuition at its February 20 meeting. Effective this fall, tuition will be $30,650 for students who entered after fall 2003, and $30,200 for students who entered 2000–2002.

Unlike last year, this year's tuition increase is the same for all classes. Tiered undergraduate tuition levels were instituted beginning in 2000, but the University has now adopted a single tuition increase for all students.

There is also a new $150 technology fee, to be used to support and upgrade the computing environment (see related article in this week’s issue). Housing costs increased 5.5 percent to $4964, and board costs rose 4 percent to $3590.

Last year, CMU increased tuition by 8.5 percent. Carnegie Mellon's tuition remains higher than Princeton's and Cornell's. Next year's tuition for Princeton will be $29,910 and for Cornell will be $30,000. Princeton and Cornell, however, have much larger endowments from which to draw than CMU does.

The Board of Trustees does not consider the current tuition rate increases of other institutions in their decision because the information is not yet available, and it would be illegal for colleges to consult each other over tuition rates.

According to William Elliott, vice president of enrollment, decisions on tuition increases are made with CMU's Strategic Plan in mind. The financial section of the Strategic Plan states that CMU aims to increase the size of the endowment by expanding fund-raising, and re-evaluating investment and spending strategies.

The University's draw on the endowment is based on a three-year running average of the endowment levels. According to Elliott, although the endowment has grown over the last six months as the economy has improved, the two prior years were down periods. Since the endowment has decreased over the past three years, the University draws less money from the endowment for next year.

Elliott also added that there will be an increase in financial aid packages comparable to the tuition increase, including both loan and grant aid.

Last semester a meeting between students and administration was held to discuss the plans for tuition. Elliott said that about 100 students attended the meeting in September, and although most students did not want tuition increases, the sentiment was that quality of education was the most important issue.

"It's about the value — what's delivered for dollars charged," said Elliott. He explained that rising costs necessitate tuition increases in order to maintain the standard of education we have currently.

"I do worry... that the ever increasing tuition might prohibit students of lesser means from attending CMU, eventually deterring quality students from applying based on staggering cost," wrote Paul Richelmi, student body vice president for finance, in an e-mail.

The student activities fee increased 12 percent to $235. According to Megan Flocken, chair of the Student Senate funding and recognition committee, the increase was necessary due to greater needs for organizational funding. "There's been an incredible increase of student organizations over the last five years," said Flocken.

Over the past several years, some students have campaigned to open the books on the University's budget. They want to be able view Carnegie Mellon's budget in order to see where students' money is going.

"Until detailed information about Carnegie Mellon's operating budget is known by students, we're in the dark," wrote Daniel Papasian, a sophomore social and decision sciences major who is running for student body vice president for finance in April.