Dartmouth's tuition increase of 4.5 percent for the 2002-03 academic year, while the largest in the last four years, is about average among the Ivy League schools this year. Several of the other schools have also reported facing similar budget difficulties due to the flagging economy.
As at Dartmouth, Princeton's tuition is increasing at a higher rate than in previous years. Princeton's tuition will increase by 3.9 percent, whereas it only increased by three percent last year, 3.3 percent in 2000-01, 3.5 percent in 1999-2000 and 3.7 percent in 1998-99.
At Cornell University, tuition will increase five percent due to the economic downturn. Cornell Provost Biddy Martin noted in a press release that "the university is facing significant budget pressures this year."
Cornell has also imposed a freeze on the hiring of nonacademic staff, in effect until at least June.
Yale is increasing its tuition by 3.9 percent, up from its 3.5 percent increase last year.
Thomas Violante, assistant director of public affairs at Yale, denied that the increase was prompted by the sluggish economy, however. He pointed out that Yale's endowment fund increased by 9.2 percent last year despite the economic downturn.
The overall cost of attending Brown University next year will increase by about 4.8 percent, according to Mark Nickell, director of Brown's news service.
However, Nickell said that the increase is due to changes within Brown's budget itself, not to fluctuations in the larger economy.
Brown is funding a multi-year "Program of Academic Enrichment," Nickell pointed out, which involves hiring 20 additional faculty every year for the next three years, improving faculty salaries and investing heavily in its libraries and information technology infrastructure.
Likewise, Brown's decision to institute a program of need-blind admissions has affected its decision to increase tuition, Nickell said.
Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania have not yet announced their tuition increases for next year.
Other schools across the country are also raising tuition more than in recent years to offset the effects of the economic downturn.
Students at Emory University will pay 5.4 percent more next year, as compared to a 4 percent rise last year. At the Masachusetts Insitute of Technology, the increase for 2002-03 will be 4.7 percent, as compared to 3.5 percent in 2001-02.
