In a rare move that may affect other institutions of higher education around the country, Williams College has bucked a national trend by keeping its comprehensive fees at their current level for the 2000-01 academic year.
Comprehensive fees, which include tuition, room, board, and other mandatory fees, have not been frozen for two consecutive years at Williams since 1954-55.
The decision to freeze the comprehensive fees was initiated by the college's Tuition Advisory Group and passed by the Board of Trustees after looking at the college's current financial situation and projections for future revenue and expenses.
Williams College president Carl Vogt credited the decision to "the continuing generosity of alumni, parents and friends of Williams and recent exceptional returns on the endowment."
Since 1990, Williams' endowment has tripled from $333 million to approximately $1 billion.
Similarly, Williams' comprehensive fees have grown from $21,760 to $31,520, rating it among the most expensive in the country.
Some people believe Williams' decision was the logical thing to do.
Williams professor of political economy Gordon Winston told The Williams Record, "With this awesome increase in our wealth it's just awfully hard to justify continuing to raise price. It's simply smart and socially justified."
Dartmouth College Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg said Williams' decision may be a general move to become more competitive and possibly attract more students from lower income families.
However, he noted that several years ago other colleges such as Carleton and Mount Holyoke tried the same thing only to find their plans backfire.
Furstenberg blamed the failure on a strange consumer mindset in which prospective students think, "If the school doesn't cost as much, it's not as good."
Williams, however, is not worried about attracting top students. According to Williams College Director of Public Affairs Jim Kolesar, "There's no reason to think that our action will have this effect."
Similarly, in a letter to the Williams community, Vogt wrote, "We are confident that it will not affect the College's mission to provide the highest quality liberal arts education or our ability to recruit and retain the highest quality faculty and staff."
Williams' decision differs from the standard practice among other top colleges of raising tuition levels every year.
According to the College Board, the average cost of attending a four-year private university has grown 29 percent since 1989 to reach its current level of $21,339.
Similarly, Dartmouth's 1999-2000 comprehensive fee has grown 32 percent since 1989 to reach its current level of $31,983, placing it as the fifth most expensive Ivy League school.
Like the other Ivies, Dartmouth raises its comprehensive fees annually by an average of five to six percent, although the percent increase has been steadily dropping since 1989.
Commenting on the decision, Furstenberg said Williams' price freeze will not have any direct impact on Dartmouth's tuition rates, but added that a significant factor in Dartmouth's future tuition plans will be what other top schools decide to do.
Essentially, there won't be any effect if it only stays constant for one year, Furstenberg said. To gain any type of price advantage it would have to happen over a longer period of time.
Dartmouth would consider keeping its fees constant, but only if "needs, priorities or other considerations merited, permitted, or required it," according to Dartmouth Treasurer Win Johnson.
The process of determining the comprehensive fees is a difficult one, Johnson said, which must consider internal pressures and the external environment.
Furstenberg added that Ivy League schools have much more complicated cost structures than smaller institutions like Williams.
"Dartmouth's financial aid is more comprehensive and generous than Williams'," he said.
Dartmouth will announce next year's comprehensive fees in February after the Trustees have met.
