University aims to balance budget with tuition increase

Though undergraduate fees will rise more slowly than the national average next year, they will exceed recommendations made by the University's budget committee in recent years, reflecting the University's effort to balance the budget during economic doldrums.

In the new $850 million University budget approved during Intersession, the Board of Trustees increased undergraduate and graduate tuition by 4.8 percent, the largest jump in almost a decade. The new budget also projected undergraduate fees to rise 4.5 percent to $36,649 and that 52 percent of students would be on financial aid.

During the past few years, the Priorities Committee, the University's budgeting arm, has recommended increases of between 3 and 3.5 percent.

Provost Amy Gutmann said, in recommending the budget, that high rates of giving to the University has put it in an "enviable financial position," but warned it would have to cut costs or increase tuition further if more robust streams of revenue did not develop. Paying back University debt and renovating buildings more slowly would be the main ways the University would conserve funds, she added.

PriCom recommended a "modest" increase in salaries, while most of an additional $1 million in spending was apportioned to health services, library acquisitions and network security.

Daniel Silverman, director of Health Services, said increased patient demand may be the result of newer treatments for depressive, anxiety, attention deficit and eating disorders that enable more students to attend the University.

But financial aid remained at the center of discussion about the new budget.

"When tuition rises, we replace the difference dollar-for-dollar for our students on financial aid. We also include new students if their families now need aid but previously did not," Gutmann said. "A large proportion of any tuition increase is therefore absorbed by financial aid, but a significant portion still becomes part of the operation budget, which helps pay the costs of everyone's education."

Officials attributed the rise in financial aid to the no-loan program attracting more students from lower income families and more students needing aid. Don Betterton, director of financial aid, said the University tries to treat students similarly from year to year regardless of the state of the economy. The aid budget will increase 10.4 percent, he said.

Health Services will receive $324,000 in additional funding, the largest part of the $1 million expenditure. Total visits to McCosh Health Center rose by just over 25 percent last year, five times more than recent year-to-year increases. Health Services will hire another psychologist and most of the remaining funds will be spent on more physician time, said Health Services director Silverman.

He said the increased demands are part of a national trend in University health services and that new funds will begin a "restaffing" of Health Services after several years of physician cutbacks.

Asked why demands are increasing now, he said, "This is just conjecture on my part, but I believe that the advent and widespread use of newer medications and therapeutic treatments for conditions such as depressive and anxiety disorders, attention deficit, eating disorders in the past decade may allow more students to be successful in high school who might not have been able to in the past."

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Admission Dean Fred Hargadon said his office doesn't receive any information about disorders students may have had in high school.

OIT, which received $150,000 to hire an expert in network security technology, warned in its funding proposal that its "budget is no longer adequate to meet the IT needs of the community."

But Betty Leydon, vice president for information technology, gave a more sanguine view.

"We are currently working on putting together estimates of IT resource needs over the next five years," she said. "While we don't have final numbers yet, I believe the needs are substantial. The provost is committed to working with OIT to identify resources, as appropriate, to support the most urgent IT needs."