Students attending Fairfield University will face a seven percent increase in tuition next year, according to Paul J. Huston, chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Tuition will go from $25,650 this academic year to about $27,445, a raise of $1,795.
Huston confirmed the tuition increase on Tuesday. “The budget is brought to the finance committee of the board of trustees,” Huston said. “The finance committee then brings a budget to the whole board that is voted on. The budget approved by the board this year includes a seven percent tuition increase.”
Vice President of Finance William Lucas declined to comment on the tuition increase Tuesday.
“Father Kelley and I will be meeting with students on the budget on Tuesday April 6 at 3:30 p.m. in the campus center,” Lucas said.
Students interviewed by The Mirror were not happy with the news.
“I understand that colleges and universities across the country are consistently increasing tuition, but that doesn’t excuse it,” said Karel Vetrovec ’05. “They need to adapt better fiscal policy, because if this trend continues, an education at a private institution like Fairfield will be out of reach for a majority of American families.”
“I’d like them to give us reasons as to the increase…whether it’s due to all the expensive construction projects they have undertaken, or future plans for improving the campus,” Vetrovec said.
Vetrovec added, “If reasons are given for the increase, then perhaps students and parents won’t be as upset.”
“I think that a seven percent raise is high, seeing as how inflation is usually around three percent per year,” said Joe King ’05.
King added, “The school could easily reduce its costs by cutting some of the administrative positions. … There are numerous people around that are unmotivated and simply don’t care because they have their job and aren’t likely to move up and they know they won’t be fired.”
“I believe that this is where a lot of money could be saved by the university and I think it really should be looked into. Its a simple matter of cutting fat versus raising tuition,” King concluded.
But according to Dr. Edward Deak, an economics professor and a member of the university’s Budget Committee, such a method is impossible to implement on a university-wide basis under Fairfield’s current system.
“We can only deal with new money,” Deak said. This means that the Budget Committee, which consists of the school’s five vice presidents, three faculty members, one student, and one university staff member, only deals with money that comes into the school as a result of increases to tuition, room and board, etc.
That new money is then allocated to different departments and a final proposal is sent to the Board of Trustees.
This year, according to Deak, the committee initially proposed a tuition increase of 6.2 percent to the Board of Trustees, but the board increased the number to seven percent to add about $500,000 to the school’s endowment.
A 6.2 percent increase, which would be more in line with tuition increases last year at Fairfield’s so-called “peer schools,” would be about $200 less than the seven percent hike voted by the trustees.
Deak also cautioned that Fairfield should exercise caution with respect to tuition raises.
“You don’t want to price yourself out of the market,” he said.
Still, Deak added that overall he thinks Fairfield’s system works.
“[The Budget Committee is] a well-functioning committee with everyone able to speak their mind,” he said. “My impression is that the university is well-managed.”
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