Student Fee Raised
In his "fireside chat" over WDBS in January, President Dickey discussed the outlook on student fees and declared that although no decision had then been reached, the increasing gap between operating costs and income from student fees was a problem to which the Trustees would have to address themselves in the near future. His listeners, knowing of the tuition increases already announced by other Ivy League colleges, got the correct impression that it was not so much a question of whether Dartmouth would adopt a higher fee as it was a question of when it would become effective and how much it would be.
On March 22, President Dickey announced on behalf of the Dartmouth Trustees that an increase of $125 in the "added fee toward the cost of education" would become effective next fall. This raises the added fee from $75 to $200, and with the basic tuition fee of $600 makes a total annual charge of $800 for instruction, educational facilities and health service. The added fee of $200 will be remitted, as at present, for all students granted scholarship aid.
Steadily rising costs since the fall of 1949' when an added fee of $75 as first established, have made the increase necessary, President Dickey explained. Even with this increase in the added fee, the College will be doing little more than keeping pace with the greater expense of its educational program. It is estimated that student fees in 1952-53 will cover about 52% of the educational costs of the College.
In a special letter sent to all Dartmouth students and their parents, President Dickey expressed "personal regret on the part of all of us here that any increase in College charges is necessary now. But the step was imperative."
"Since 1940," he added, "Dartmouth's operating costs have risen 85% and her tuition plus added fee charges only 50%. The $125 increase is the minimum action that was open to the Trustees if the College's strength was not to be impaired. Even with this adjustment it will continue to be true that no student will be paying more than some 50% of the cost to the College of his education. In the years ahead our quality colleges must strive to close this gap somewhat with those who can and will pay a larger share of the cost of their education. At present it is closed partly by endowment and partly by current gifts. Our Alumni Fund, on which many of you as parents lend a strong hand, will still be faced this year and next with the job of raising better than $500,000 annually if Dartmouth is to hold her own in your service."
Along with his announcement about the higher fee, President Dickey disclosed that no increase in dormitory room rentals or in annual board charges for college dining halls is anticipated next year. Consideration is being given, however, to a modification of dormitory services that would hold down operating costs at this point.
For the items of instruction, health service, room and board, it is estimated that total annual charges to a student for 1955-53 53 will come to approximately $1,450. Beyond that, the cost of books, clothing, laundry, travel, social activities and other items will vary with the individual student, making it inadvisable to give any exact figure as the overall cost of a year at Dartmouth in these times. Adding the fee increase to the figures stated in the October 1951 edition of the College's descriptive bulletin, and leaving out such variables as travel, clothing and dentistry, the non-scholarship student who plans rigid economy should figure on a minimum budget of $1,675 a Year; while the student able to indulge in reasonable expenditures should be able to manage on $1,875 a year.
The listing of college expenses, particularly in the comparative tables insurance companies love to compile, is a troublesome business—and one which erroneously got. Dartmouth tabbed some years ago as the most expensive college in the country. At that time Dartmouth had only a basic tuition charge covering, in addition to instruction, all the health service, library, gymnasium, and miscellaneous fees which at other institutions add up to as much as $150 a year. These extra fees elsewhere were ignored in the comparative tables and Dartmouth's "tuition" fee naturally came out at the top of the list. The College then resorted to "annual combined fee" to describe its instructional charge, but more often than not this was still translated into "tuition." When the added fee was initiated in the fall of 1949, the College began the present practice of listing a basic tuition fee of $600 plus the "added fee toward the cost of education."
The "added fee" has the advantage of providing some protection against the unfair comparisons of the past, but primarily the purpose of the Trustees in listing student fees in their present form is to sharpen the point that each student is getting his Dartmouth education for about one-half of its actual cost and that any increased payment by the student is simply a payment toward meeting that real cost. Unfortunately, with expenses still rising, the $125 increase for next year gets almost nowhere toward closing that gap and has to be viewed as an action enabling the College simply to hold its own.
