The Board of Trustees voted this weekend for a 3.9 percent increase in the total charge of undergraduate tuition, room and board and mandatory fees for next year.
The total cost will now be set at $30,822, including a 4.5 percent increase in room rates and a three percent increase in board rates. Tuition itself will increase 3.9 percent.
Responding to the fact that other colleges have changed the calculations they use to determine financial aid, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg said over 37 percent of financial aid recipients have been affected by recent adjustments in the College's formula.
According to the College, this year's tuition increase is its lowest in 32 years.
The College plans to distribute $27.8 million in scholarship moneys to all undergraduates, and has reaffirmed its need-blind admissions policy.
The Board of Trustees also voted to incorporate the cost of DarTalk's monthly fee into the overall cost of room and board. In effect, the cost for phone use will be covered by financial aid, making it slightly more affordable for students who receive aid.
No vote was made on the issue of cable in the dorms, but it was discussed as a feasible "option for the future," said Stephen Bosworth '61, chairman of the Board of Trustees.
The Trustees also met with the Presidential Search Committee for much of the weekend in an effort to bring the Trustees up to speed on the process of the search.
During the meetings on Saturday, Bosworth said the talks were proceeding "very well."
But beyond that, Bosworth said it would be "premature to say how many applicants they are down to."
Though the Trustees discussed the College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drug's proposal, they will not play a major role in the decision making process, Bosworth said.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton is slated to decide the College's policy by the end of Winter term.
Though administrative turnover is making it more difficult to set new plans in motion or finalize old ideas, like the construction of a second supercluster modeled on the East Wheelock Cluster, Bosworth said he feels the Trustees continue to make new advances.
"Transition is a factor that we have to take into account," Bosworth said. "But it's not that we are standing still, we continue to move forward."
