Despite recently announcing the smallest annual percent increases in tuition in three decades, Ivy League officials are finding themselves placed on the defensive about the costs of attending their institutions.
Since Princeton announced a 3.3-percent tuition increase to $32,626 in late January, all of the Ivy schools except Columbia University have announced tuition and fee charges for the upcoming year.
For each of the colleges, next year's rate of increase is the lowest in recent history. For example, Harvard University's 2.9-percent increase is much lower than its 20-year average of eight percent, according to a university statement.
All the fee increases announced by the Ivy schools, however, are still above the 2.4-percent inflation rate for 1999 and fall short of Williams College's increase for next year — zero percent.
Following Williams' decision to freeze tuition, spokesmen from the Ivy universities said the move — in spite of its popularity with students and parents — would be unsound for their schools.
"Tuition and fees have to increase," said Ken Wildes, a spokesman for the University of Pennsylvania, which announced Friday a 3.4-percent increase in fees to $32,996.
"Education is a labor-intensive industry. We are expected in this peer group [consisting of the Ivy schools, University of Chicago, Stanford University and MIT] to attract world-class faculty. All of that costs money," he said.
"Freezing tuition is an interesting move. You can only do it for so long," Wildes continued. He noted that, because of its large size, it would be difficult for Penn not to increase tuition.
Harvard University communications director Sally Baker explained why Harvard did not match Williams' decision. "It's not a terrific way of planning, just to react to something," she said. "Harvard plans for the long term instead of responding to an immediate event."
Yale University public affairs director Tom Conroy conceded, however, that decisions by other colleges affect planning on tuition and fees at Yale.
"Certainly all schools are mindful of the actions of other institutions," he explained. "But in the end, it is the amount of the tuition that is important, not whether it was arrived at by rise, decline or no rise in tuition."
Conroy also noted that, at present, most Yale students do not pay full tuition. Yale increased its comprehensive fee to $32,880 for next year — a 2.9-percent raise.
"As with [Princeton], the affordability of the college is determined by both tuition and financial aid," he said. "In recent years, [Yale] has been especially mindful to keep increases in tuition low, but also, like Princeton, Yale has increased its financial aid program."
While he acknowledged that financial aid packages at Princeton were better than those at Penn, Wildes said the price of an education at Penn is still less than its value.
"I don't think people go to Penn because it is cheap, because we are in fact expensive," he said. "Do we think education at Penn — and Princeton — is worth it? Of course we do."
Despite its recent financial aid improvements, Penn does not have the resources to improve its aid program to the extent that Princeton has, Wildes said.
Dartmouth College spokeswoman Laurel Stavis said Dartmouth is still a bargain despite its 3.8-percent tuition increase to $33,210 for next year. "The price tag does not cover the 'cost' of providing that education. In essence everyone who attends Dartmouth receives a huge subsidy," she said.
While Cornell University's 4.2-percent tuition increase may be the largest in the Ivy League, the university's financial aid program is also growing faster, Cornell university public relations vice president Henrik Dullea said.
"The percent increase in financial aid has been substantially higher than the percent increase in tuition," Dullea explained. "We have in each of the last three years had the lowest percent increase [in fees] since 1965," he said. "And we've had a major effort to increase the endowment funds that go towards financial aid."
Columbia University will release its charges for next year by the end of April, according to a university spokesman.
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