by Kris Fronzak, News Editor

For students who rely heavily upon scholarships and financial aid to fund their four years at the College, Monday’s news that tuition would increase to $47,600 was highly unwelcome.

According to President Grant Cornwell, “The increase in tuition and fees is not happening in order to fund some new initiative or service specifically, but rather to maintain the excellence of Wooster’s program in all its aspects, and the quality of a Wooster education.”

The projected fees for the 2011-2012 academic year are an increase of 4.3 percent, up from the current tuition of $46, 668, which is also an increase of about five percent from 2009-2010. This in itself is not unusual. Director of Financial Aid David Miller explained that, “For years and years, the increase has been just about 5 percent; sometimes a little bit lower, and rarely a little bit higher.”

Tuition was increased due to many factors. Laurie Stickelmaier, Vice President of Finance and Business, explained that the Class of 2014 brought in more revenue to the College this year. However, it also added expenses for housing, food and additional professors and staff, among other things.

“We are expecting utilities, in other words, the cost of providing electricity, heat and hot water and air conditioning to our facilities to increase 10 percent next year,” said Stickelmaier

But the College’s most significant cost, Cornwell explained, is actually the people, including mentoring† faculty, researching and teaching positions and staff members who support the faculty and students.

“The cost of providing the compensation and benefits necessary to attract and keep great people at Wooster plays a big role in why tuition and fees go up from one year to the next,” he said.

Stickelmaier agreed. “Colleges and universities are people-driven enterprises, making college personnel costs the biggest item on the expense side of the budget.” 65 percent of Wooster’s operating budget goes toward these personnel costs.

Merit scholarships will unfortunately not be affected by the hike in fees. But luckily for students who rely on financial aid, a portion of next year’s cost increase will be given to need-based aid recipients.

“For next year, that typical increased need-based award [after the increase] will be $425,” Miller said. “That’s slightly more than a quarter of the difference between this year’s and next year’s fee.”

However, that still leaves approximately $1,500 of fees on the shoulders of those recipients.

There are benefits to this hike as well. Thanks to the strategic planning process, the administration plans to revamp the way academic advising and career planning are handled at the College. Cornwell also indicated that plans are underway for an undergraduate research center in Andrews Library, which he expects to “provide students with the tools and instruction in information and communications technologies now essential for research.”

“Again, though, these developments are intended to improve the overall quality of a Wooster education and its transformative impact on students, so we do this as part of our normal practice of studying what we do and figuring out how we could do it better,” he said.

 

Comprehensive tuition over the years

2006-2007 ó $37,580

2007-2008 ó $40,022

2008-2009 ó $42,420

2009-2010 ó $43,900

2010-2011 ó $45,668

2011-2012 ó $47,600

󆆆††† figures from the Office of Financial Aid