Board of Trustees Raises Fee to $35,900

Author: Ron Schildge

Board of Trustee member Nancy Furlong '75 and Acting President Ronald Liebowitz announced the Trustees' decision to increase the comprehensive fee for the 2002-2003 academic year by 4.66 percent at Sunday's Student Government Association (SGA) meeting. Tuition will rise to $35,900 from this year's $34,300. The final figure is $5 less than the number proposed by the SGA's Comprehensive Fee Committee in January.

Next year's tuition increase was the result of a combined effort of the Board of Trustees, the Comprehensive Fee Committee and the SGA to keep up with rising inflation, and improve campus facilities at the same time.

"The SGA's recommendation was very well received [by the Trustees]," said Liebowitz.

The Comprehensive Fee Committee originally projected next year's fee to reach $36,000. "We decided that the SGA report was slightly high. We worked overtime to bring the fee down [to $35,905]," said SGA President Brian Elworthy '02.5. "A 4.66 percent increase is what the College has adhered to."

Because of the tuition increase, more financial aid will be provided for qualified students, making it still feasible for many needing financial support to attend Middlebury College, said Director of Financial Aid Robert Donaghey.

In this year's entering class, 37 percent of students received an average of $20,000 from the financial aid office. In the near future, the College anticipates that 40 percent of the student body will be on financial aid.

Donaghey explained that financial aid comes in the form of student employment, college grants and federal loans. By settling tuition increases, students can receive up to $2,250 from student employment (up from $1,790 last year), a substantial amount of college grant aid and a reduced federal loan component.

SGA senators and cabinet members asked whether the College would consider reducing the rate of tuition increase in the future. Liebowitz explained that the current rate of increase is "less than the model," and that the rise in the comprehensive fee "stays at 4 percent because [that figure] is always 1 percent over inflation."

Asked if the College charged more because of the popular conception of Middlebury as an "elitist" institution, Leibowitz said, "That's the medallion theory. If you don't charge enough, your product may not be as good."

Furlong added, "It's a weird theory, but there's probably a lot of truth to it." She said, however, that this theory was not taken into account as the Trustees worked to set the comprehensive fee.

Liebowitz and Furlong said that the College had faired the economic downturns "relatively well" compared to some other schools. "It was still a negative year for everybody," Liebowitz said.

Liebowitz also referred to the College's goal of capping annual enrollment at 2,350 students. Middlebury expects a student body of 2,256 for next year, while this year's number stand at 2,270, up from the anticipated 2,242.

In order to accommodate the College's current construction projects, including the completion of Ross Commons expansion and the recently approved plans to move ahead with building the Library and Technology Center (LATC) and new facilities for Atwater Commons, the College felt it was necessary to raise the comprehensive fee, Liebowitz explained.

When asked whether the two construction projects — LATC and Atwater — affected the comprehensive fee increase, Leibowitz said, "There are ongoing expenses — inflation and endowment spending. Services would not be maintained if we didn't increase the fee. Faculty and staff wouldn't receive raises."