Boston University families received their yearly post-Christmas present from the university, as the Board of Trustees announced that overall expenses will increase 4.9 percent to $37,800 for the 2003-2004 academic year.
Tuition will increase to $28,512 from $27,042 and basic room and board will rise to $9,288 from $8,978, raising total costs from the 2002-2003 figure of $36,020.
The increases were released to BU families in a Dec. 26 letter from then-Board of Trustees Chairman Richard B. DeWolfe.
‘The administration works very hard to keep tuition increases as low as possible while continuing to make progress in those areas that help continue to attract outstanding faculty and outstanding students,’ said BU spokesman Colin Riley. ‘Unfortunately, it’s a very costly venture.’
The increases are determined based on many different financial factors the Board of Trustees takes into account, including increases in health care and labor costs, Riley said. University service contracts also enter into the equation as they expire and must be re-negotiated, Riley said, along with costs of new academic proposals.
The Consumer Price Index is generally not a major factor in determining each year’s tuition increases, Riley said, and the recent struggles of BU’s endowment and BU’s building plans were also not major factors in this year’s price hike.
The increases ‘reflect the high value of a Boston University education’ and ‘represent only a fraction of the cost to the university of educating our students,’ DeWolfe said in the letter. He justified the increased price tag as enabling BU to continue recruiting high-quality faculty.
Riley said BU enlarges its financial aid budget every year and individual financial aid packages grow yearly to account for increases in tuition.
This year’s rate of increase was higher than the past several years, which have all been about four percent, and is the largest percent increase since a 6.9 percent increase for the 1999-2000 academic year.
Several students interviewed last night had differing responses to the increase.
Lauren Liedeke, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the increase is ‘ridiculous,’ though she said she does get a ‘great education from BU.’
‘I definitely do get a great education and I’ve loved the professors I’ve had, but I don’t think we get the kind of recognition when we graduate for what we pay,’ she said.
The national rate of increase does make BU’s announcement seem more reasonable, she said, but the university should take more steps to keep tuition down as much as possible.
CAS sophomore Amy Pascal said the national averages make the increases at BU understandable.
‘You have to take into account that it happens to universities world-wide,’ Pascal said. ‘In general, it’s obvious that BU is an expensive university, but it’s a prestigious university with great professors. They’re quoted in the New York Times every day.’
Liedeke said the timing of BU’s announcement could use improvement, though it does give students interested in transferring more time and information with which to make their decisions.
‘It’s somewhat poor timing because people are kind of struggling financially at that time,’ she said. ‘Things are tight.’
Several area universities have yet to announce their tuition and basic room and board rates for next year. Harvard University’s total price for the 2002-2003 academic year is $35,950, an increase of 4.9 percent over the previous year, according to a university spokeswoman. Boston College’s total price increased 4.5 percent for this academic year to $34,420, according to BC spokesman Reid Oslin.
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