Full-time Hopkins undergraduates will see a 4.9 percent increase in tuition next year, following the Board of Trustees' approval of the 2005-2006 figures, increasing the cost to $31,620 at their quarterly meeting in December.
The increase, which applies to 4,100 students from both the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering, is below last year's six-percent average tuition increase among private universities nationwide, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
In the 2004-05 academic year, the University dropped to 12th in tuition rate among a group of 18 peer institutions, including all eight Ivy League universities, Stanford, Duke, University of Chicago and Georgetown.
Hopkins administrators said there have been efforts in recent years to keep tuition hikes below five percent.
"Our interest is in affordability," Provost Steven Knapp said. "We've tried to remain low in increases by focusing on controlling cost and raising money."
According to Knapp, the tuition increase was approved by the Board of Trustees in view of growing faculty salaries, enhancing technology on campus, investing in facilities, and the construction costs for building new dorms.
"The budgeting process for Homewood schools is very complex," said Nicholas Jones, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering.
Jones attributed the increased tuition to a number of factors, including large increases in the costs of utilities, salaries, student services and administrative upgrades.
Fred Puddester, executive director of the Hopkins Budget Office, explained that income from undergraduate tuition makes up roughly half of the revenue at Homewood schools.
The exact allocation of the funds to faculty salaries, financial aid and student services is determined by the deans.
Knapp added that all revenue from undergraduate tuition goes toward undergraduate programs in the Homewood schools.
"The fact that tuition revenue goes directly to the schools is a direct result of our decentralized structure at Hopkins," Puddester said. "Institutions with a more centralized approach allocate revenue differently."
The increased tuition was not related to the recent $2 million addition to Homewood security spending, according to Adam Falk, interim dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.
"Security money is more of a consideration for the budget process," Falk said.
Falk added that the 4.9 percent increase in tuition did not come as a surprise to administrators in Krieger and Whiting schools, who submit tuition recommendations to the Trustees before the December meeting.
"Hopkins provides an education that is in a class with elite institutions, in the range of tuitions that elite institutions have," Falk said.
In response to concerns that increased tuitions may affect the diversity of students who are able to attend Hopkins, Falk said that, while the higher cost posed some obstacles to applicants, it involved a larger issue of the cost of tuition at private colleges nationwide.
"The cost of private education is very high for all of us, and we recognize the strains that this puts on students," Falk said. "There are students who will decide for state university instead, but there's nothing wrong with that."
He added, "Students who are looking for an education at a private research university are not going to be dissuaded from coming to Hopkins."
The tuition increase for next year is above the national rate of inflation, which is approximately 3 percent.
Knapp explained that productivity in a labor-intensive field like higher education does not improve at the same rate as other fields, therefore driving the inflation rate higher than that of other industries.
The Board of Trustees based their decision on the Higher Education Price Index rather than the Consumer Price Index, which provides the measure for inflation, because the HEPI specifically shows the inflation associated with university costs, said Knapp.
The increase will be coupled with a $2.6 million increase in university financial aid for undergraduates, with a total aid budget of $35.6 million, according to Director of Financial Aid Ellen Frishberg.
Of the more than 4,000 undergraduates attending Hopkins, 1,600 receive grants from the University.
"We have competitive financial aid," Frishberg said. "What we don't have is as much endowment as other schools."
According to Frishberg, the office of financial aid faces several obstacles as tuition increases, including challenges related to President George W. Bush's proposed federal aid cuts to college students.
"It will be hard for us to depend on federal aid," Frishberg said.
In addition to the lowering value of Pell Grants, Bush is also proposing to eliminate the Perkins program, which gives an average $3,000 in aid to 1,600 Hopkins students.
In response, Frishberg and the financial aid office have launched a campaign encouraging students to write letters to their local congressmen in opposition to the elimination of the Perkins program.
Students expressed mixed opinions about the tuition increase.
"I think it's understandable because the actual cost of education comes to so much more than tuition," senior Payal Patel said. "There are a lot of students who don't make an effort to know where their money goes."
Other students complained about the University's lack of transparency, questioning why increased tuition revenue was needed and where it would be spent.
"I would be interested to see -- and all students have a right to see -- a detailed financial account of why the tuition's been raised," said senior Eric Wolkoff. "We're the consumers, and like any public company, Hopkins should show its revenue information."
