Today's announcement of Dartmouth's tuition increase for next year will have "no surprises," according to Chairman of the Board of Trustees William H. King Jr. '63.
Indications point to a tuition increase similar to the increases of the previous two years, which were 3.9 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.
In addition to tuition and the steering committee recommendations, the Trustees also discussed the topic of cable in their Winter term meetings held over the Winter Carnival weekend.
An administrative announcement of a decision on residence hall cable is expected in the near future.
The level of the tuition increase will be, "no more, no less," than other Ivy League schools, King said, stressing that the process of determining the actual percentage change is very complex.
King said the recent Williams College decision to maintain its comprehensive fees for the 2000-2001 academic year was discussed in the meetings, but he said "Williams is their own institution, and they have their own reasons for doing things. We don't always know what those reasons are."
Williams attributed its rare decision to freeze tuition levels to their substantial endowment, which has tripled to $1 billion in the past 10 years.
"Dartmouth's decision depends on a broad range of financial issues," King added.
The possible addition of cable television into dormitories was also discussed briefly at the Trustees' meetings, although King said the issue primarily concerned the administration and did not involve the Board.
When questioned about what kind of changes, if any, will be made to the steering committee's report, King said, "It's too early to tell what will happen to the recommendations. The announcement of any changes will be made relatively soon."
According to King, it is not expected that tuition funds will be used to pay for expenses incurred by implementing the proposed changes in the report.
"There are a number of sources and methods for financing the Initiative," King said, citing Dartmouth's ability to borrow funds, tapping into the endowment and seeking donations from alumni or other people as possible methods.
Three important meetings took place over the course of the weekend were the Committee on Student Activities, the Committee on Facilities Planning and the Committee on Finance.
The Trustees are in the middle of receiving vast amounts of feedback and opinion in the form of telephone calls, letters and e-mails from many different portions of the Dartmouth community, King said.
King also cited the "fireside chats" between Trustees, administrators, faculty and students as an important source of information for the Board as they move towards writing the final Initiative report.
"The meetings enabled the Trustees to interact a lot with both students and faculty, and all of them came away a much better informed group," he said.
