Trustees Approve 4.3 Percent Comprehensive Fee Increase
By Justin DuRivage
News Editor

In a letter to students, President Peter Stanley announced a comprehensive fee increase of approximately 4.3 percent to $37,130. Next year Pomona will charge students $26,890 for tuition and $9,980 for room and board. That increase will place Pomona in line with its peer institutions, all of which are increasing fees.

Swarthmore recently announced a comprehensive fee increase of 4.5 percent and Amherst similarly instituted a 5 percent hike. This comes at a time of declining endowments and economic uncertainty for both institutions and their students. Costs at Pomona and throughout the nation are increasing, in part, due to increased healthcare, insurance, and utility costs.

The tuition increase was instituted as part of creating the College's budget for next year. Pomona's tuition is growing slower than that budget, which is expected to grow 7.35% to just over $100 million. The spending increase is larger than the tuition increase and the difference will be met using endowment funds.

President Peter Stanley defended the tuition hike, arguing that it was necessary in order for the ongoing improvement of the College.

"Colleges and universities almost always increase tuition from one year to the next, because costs rise and no one wants to see quality decline. Quite the opposite: people want the College to keep getting better, typically by adding new programs or new positions," said Stanley.

While the College is increasing its tuition, it will continue to maintain its need blind admissions policy that is committed to meeting 100 percent of demonstrated need. Because of this, students whose parents' income does increase will see their aid rise to meet the new tuition demands. Thus, the tuition increase will affect primarily those paying full tuition.

Student reaction to the increase was mixed with some students responding with apathy or ambivalence. The mixture of responses is possibly because those on financial aid will be insulated from tuition increase by Pomona's substantial endowment and those already paying full tuition are in a position to pay for the increase.

"A significant portion of my annual tuition is covered by financial aid, and while I assume the absolute amount my parents and I pay will rise, I don't expect it to be that much," said Abiel Reindhart '05.

Others echoed the administration in saying that the tuition increase was needed to pay for educational improvements.

"I suppose the increase is not really unreasonable and probably necessary to keep Pomona's funding and professor salaries growing at a steady rate," said Alicia Godlove '05.

Dean of Students Ann Quinley attributed the increase in part to the expanding demands made by students and their parents on the College and the need to maintain Pomona's quality.

Quinley described Pomona as in the same market segment as Amherst and Swarthmore, who are raising their tuitions slightly more then Pomona, saying "if you want to be a first rate liberal arts college, there are certain things that you do."

While costs are increasing, and the average annual expense of Pomona is approaching $40,000 per year, Quinley did not feel that the tuition was too high.

"In the eleven years that I've been here, I haven't had one complaint about how much it costs," said Quinley.

Some students, however, did not feel that the increase was warranted and that the college had done a poor job of justifying its annual tuition increases.

"I don't think the college has done a good job of explaining why the tuition increase is necessary. All they've provided are vague comments that 'the costs of education are increasing' without ever delving into specifics. If the college wants to consistently raise tuition at rates that are twice that of inflation, I think they need to give us more justification," said Brian Jackson '05.

Others went further, saying that the tuition increase was not only poorly justified but ridiculous. Junior Eric Wolfinger caustically remarked, "at least he's [Peter Stanley] not blaming it on dining hall worker salaries this time."