Tuition rises 5 percent

Author: Kathryn Flagg

In a letter mailed yesterday to parents of Middlebury College students, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz announced a 2006-2007 comprehensive fee of $44,330. This fee, which was approved by the Board of Trustees at their February meeting, represents a 5.25 percent increase from the College's current sticker price - a full one percent higher than last year's 4.25 percent hike.

In his April 5 letter, Liebowitz cites "higher fuel costs and related increases in other services" as the primary reason for this year's higher increase. In an interview by telephone with The Middlebury Campus, Liebowitz noted that he finds this increase fair, "given a whole set of circumstances," and that he supports the fee, which ensures that the College can continue to "offer the finest education possible."

The fee reflects the work of the Student Comprehensive Fee Committee, which presented a proposed 5.5 percent increase in February to the Board of Trustees. The final number, as decided upon by the President's staff, was only $128 less than the fee proposed by the committee.



Number Crunching



The cost of this "finest education" remains significantly expensive. Next year marks the third academic year in which the College's comprehensive fee will top $40,000. With annual increases ranging from, in general, four to six percent, parents and students recognize the inevitability of climbing costs - though, this year, the College is quick to attribute a portion of its increased fee to rising fuel costs.

According to Executive Vice President and Treasurer Bob Huth, approximately one percent of the 5.25 percent increase is tied directly to these fuel costs. "Our #6 oil budget needed to be increased by $1 million," Huth told The Campus.

The rising cost of fuel also influenced the budget across the board. "It's not just the cost of heating buildings," said Michael McKenna, the College's recently instated vice president of communications. McKenna mentioned that transportation, food costs and other services saw prices climb this year as a result of more expensive fuel.

While this year's 5.25 percent increase in the comprehensive fee is higher than last year's increase, McKenna and Huth were confident that Middlebury's fee increase would fall "in line," as Huth stated, with the College's peer institutions. At the time of press, only one other college in Middlebury's athletic conference, Wesleyan University, had released its comprehensive fee for the upcoming school year.

"I think that last year we were the lowest of our peers," McKenna said. "This year, we're closer to the norm. It reflects that the energy prices hit everybody."

College officials such as Huth, McKenna and Liebowitz also noted that the comprehensive fee, while substantial, only represents just over 60 percent of the total cost to educate a Middlebury student. Endowment income, grants and donor gifts make up the remaining amount.

Huth noted that it is important that students share in the total cost of the College's education "so that the College's endowment can continue to support future students in the same way that current students are supported."

According to Huth, the endowment currently provides approximately $45 million a year to subsidize the cost of a student's education. In addition, donors provide over $10 million a year in gifts to support the annual operating costs of the College as well as between $25 and $30 million for the endowment.



Sticker Price for the Strategic Plan



While the comprehensive fee, and its rising cost, deal primarily with the operating costs of the College, McKenna, Huth and Liebowitz noted that the College's recently completed strategic plan informed this year's deliberations, although indirectly. McKenna pointed out that the "pillars of the strategic plan" - including growing the endowment, lowering financial barriers and reducing the student-to-teacher ration - provide long-term goals for the College that require intensive financial planning.

"If you look at the setting of the fee," he said, "what we can do day to day can help us plan for the future."

Liebowitz also referred to the College's strategic plan in his letter to parents, noting the plan's commitment to need-blind admissions, fostering diversity in the student body and enhancing faculty-student interactions. "It is an exciting time at the College," he wrote.



Assessing the Fee



The rising cost of higher education remains, of course, a topic of debate at institutes of higher learning across the country. According to an article in Tuesday's issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, rising operating costs are "a brewing crisis" for colleges. Speakers from across the country addressed the issue at the annual meeting this week of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Closer to home, students have voiced some concerns at the ever-rising price tag attached to a Middlebury education.

Said one sophomore, "I understand that Middlebury has to be competitive, but I don't think that five percent increases are sustainable. At this rate, by the time we are adults our children will be paying over $200,000 a year for college."

Other students expressed wishes that the College would follow in the footsteps of Ivy League colleges like Harvard, which has recently significantly strengthened financial aid packages for families with incomes less than $60,000 a year.

However, students and administrators almost unanimously agreed that the quality of a Middlebury education is worth its steep price.

"I think that the Middlebury education is an unbelievable opportunity," said McKenna, "but it costs a lot to provide." The nature of the Middlebury experience - with its small classes, intensive resources and available professors - is an attractive option for many students, he noted, but an option that unfortunately is cost intensive.