Princeton University plans hike in tuition, fees

Undergraduate charges will increase to $36,649 next year.

By: Jeff Milgram
   Tuition, room and board at Princeton will go up a combined 4.5 percent this fall under an $850 million balanced operating budget approved Saturday by the university’s board of trustees.
   University officials believe an increase in financial aid will soften the impact of the tuition hike.
   For 2003-2004, the university’s Priorities Committee, made up of faculty, administrators and students, recommended the 4.5-percent increase in the rate of tuition, room and board, which the trustees approved.
   Princeton’s undergraduate charges will increase to $36,649 next year — which is expected to be one of the lowest rates among its peers. Tuition will be $28,540, an increase of 4.8 percent; room will be $4,109, an increase of 5 percent; and board will be $4,000, an increase of 1.8 percent.
   Graduate tuition will increase by 4.8 percent to $28,540. Room and board charges will vary according to graduate students’ housing and dining plans, but will increase at rates similar to those for undergraduates.
   "While the rate of increase recommended for this year is higher than the rates recommended over the past several years, it is lower than the average national rate of increase last year in both public and private institutions," said provost Amy Gutmann, who heads the Priorities Committee.
   According to the College Board, tuition and fees increased 5.8 percent at four-year private institutions and 9.6 percent at four-year public institutions in 2002-2003.
   "Because Princeton is committed to maintaining as strong an undergraduate financial aid program as possible, the committee is confident that this rate of increase in tuition and fees is fully consistent with the university’s leadership position in ensuring that its excellent education is affordable to all students who merit admission to Princeton on a need-blind basis," Provost Gutmann said.
   She noted that the financial aid budget will be increased enough to cover these additional charges for students on aid.
   The trustees acted on budget recommendations from President Shirley M. Tilghman, based on the recommendations of the Priorities Committee.
   "Our recommendations … can be summarized as doing our best to constrain the growth of tuition, room and board while providing the most urgently needed staff positions to health services, stemming the erosion in purchasing power of the library acquisitions budget, enhancing the security of the university’s information technology resources and supporting other important requests that are essential to enhancing the quality of the Princeton experience," Provost Gutmann wrote in an introductory letter to the report.
   In recommending a balanced budget for the coming year, she noted that "the generosity of our alumni and friends has placed Princeton in a very strong, indeed enviable financial position" despite the country’s economic downturn. She cautioned, however, that "unless university income streams develop more robustly than is currently expected, reductions in expenses," which might include slowing down the rate of building renovation, or steeper tuition increases may be necessary.
   The percentage of students on financial aid at Princeton increased from 38 percent of the class of 2001 — the last class admitted before Princeton started giving students grants instead of loans — to 50 percent of the class of 2006. The overall percentage of undergraduates on financial aid is expected to climb as additional classes enter under the enhanced program.
   "The budget we are recommending fully funds the existing programs and expects that we will continue to be able to attract incoming classes more than half of which are on financial aid," Provost Gutmann said.
   The average scholarship for students on financial aid is more than $23,000 a year, and some students receive much larger amounts.
   In its report to President Tilghman this year, the committee recommended the budget include a "modest additional sum" for faculty and staff salaries. This sum will augment a salary pool that will be the same size as last year. The committee stated that a proportion of the pool will be used to address "the most critical needs of merit and equity."
   The committee also evaluated requests for growth or changes in existing programs as well as new initiatives. It recommended allocating $1 million to fund some of the highest-priority requests. Among the requests approved by the trustees are:
   • $324,000 to hire a senior staff psychologist and a physician for University Health Services as well as to fund other pressing needs in that area resulting from a rapidly increasing caseload;
   • $200,000 to supplement the library’s budget for the acquisition of serials, books and electronic resources;
   • $150,000 to add a technical staff member and to strengthen the university’s efforts to secure its information technology resources; and
   • $67,500 to augment support for the graduate school by hiring a residence life coordinator for the Lawrence and Butler apartments and to increase merit stipends for graduate students in the humanities and social sciences.