Tuition for both undergraduate and graduate students will rise by 5 percent for the 2005-2006 academic year to offset a projected deficit of about $5 million.
In a meeting held on Jan. 22, the Board of Trustees approved a $950 million operating budget that includes a 5 percent jump in the total undergraduate fee package, raising it to $40,213.
Despite this rise, Princeton's student fee package is expected to remain the lowest among the Ivy League schools, Stanford and MIT. Princeton's tuition has been the lowest among these institutions for the past four years.
The upcoming year may also see a rise in residential college fees and Student Health Plan premiums in addition to that in tuition, room and board.
The Priorities Committee, the body that deliberates on each year's operating budget, allocated approximately $500,000 for specific high-priority requests. About half of this amount will go to University Health Services (UHS) in an effort to improve the general health and wellbeing of the campus community. Funds will also be used to create a new LGBT Center.
The funds allocated to UHS will primarily be used to expand psychiatric consultation services on campus, increase summer coverage and finance other administrative needs. McCosh has traditionally hired outside psychiatric consultants but will now create permanent, part-time staff positions for two psychiatrists, said Chief Medical Officer Daniel Silverman.
Asked about the need for these positions, he said that it is part of a "multi-year trend that almost all colleges and universities are experiencing." He listed depression, anxiety and eating disorders among the main problems faced by students today.
"More and more students are arriving freshman year with a history of psychiatric treatment and taking psychotropic drugs," Silverman said. "They also view receiving mental health treatment as less of a stigma than before."
Premiums for the Student Health Plan, which is held by about 45 percent of undergraduate students and all graduate students, will rise from $810 to $1000. Silverman said that this will lead to "much better benefits for students" and an "increased number of coverage sessions," while noting that that the insurance fees at Princeton are much lower than at comparable institutions.
The Committee recommended an allocation of $27,000 for the creation of a new LGBT Center in Frist.
"The hope is to bring my office more along the lines of the International Center and the Women's Center," said Debra Bazarsky, the LGBT Student Services Coordinator.
Part of the allocated money will be used to hire a part-time administrative assistant for the Center, and the rest will go toward general budget and programming.
The Center will endeavor to restore the LGBT library, which will contain works on "topics that are relevant to the LGBT community, fiction and nonfiction," Bazarsky said. "Traditionally, the Center has its own library, which has been in boxes for four years. That's going back up in Frist as well."
The Priorities Committee also reported that, in the University's continuing effort to "attract and retain the best students, faculty and staff to Princeton," there will be a slight increase in the faculty and staff salary pools for 2005-2006.
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