News > October 15, 2003

By Kezia McKeague

News Editor

At its annual fall session Oct. 9 and 10, the board of trustees voted to raise undergraduate tuition by 6.5 percent and establish a new $100 student activity fee.

Effective in the 2004-2005 fiscal year, the increase will bring full-time undergraduate tuition to $28,210. It is $26,490 this year.

Although the office of financial aid has not yet completed its analysis of the comprehensive estimated cost of attendance for 2004-2005, Milton King, associate director of financial aid, said that the total may be around $38,750, reflecting the 6.5 percent increase in tuition. The comprehensive cost, which is based on actual, average or estimated charges and educationally-related expenses, is about $36,400 this year.

According to Louis Morrell, vice president for investments and treasurer, higher operating budgets have driven the trend of annual tuition hikes.

Last year, the board raised tuition by seven percent.

“For reasons that are fairly lengthy, the cost of operating a university runs somewhere north of two times the rate of increase of the consumer price index,” Murray Greason, Jr., chairman of the board, said. 

Universities typically use the higher education price index