The Dartmouth Board of Trustees approved a 4.8 percent tuition increase for the coming year at its winter meeting this weekend. The tuition hike, which amounts to $1,536, will bring the overall undergraduate expenses to $43,341, including room, board and mandatory fees.
The 18-member Board also approved a 4.5 percent increase for the Dartmouth Medical School tuition and a 5.9 percent increase for the Tuck School of Business.
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Chair of the Board William Neukom '64 emphasized the ability of Dartmouth's need-blind admissions and need-based financial aid program to balance tuition increases.
"We are one of the very few institutions in the world who allocates enough resources so that the financial aid is complete, so that anybody who is invited to come here and accepts gets the help from us and other sources to be able to afford a Dartmouth experience," Neukom said.
At the same time, Neukom acknowledged that tuition could continue to increase in future years.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but my guess is that costs will continue to go up," he said.
Over the weekend, the Board also heard a report from McKinsey and Co., a management consulting firm hired last winter to assess the effectiveness of the administration. College President James Wright declined to describe the report, saying that the administration had not had a chance to discuss it and that they would have more to say after the multi-stage process concluded in the spring. Wright added that the full report probably would not cause any "dramatic change" in the relationship between students and the administration because it was focused on making the administration more efficient and effective.
The Board also reviewed ongoing construction projects around campus and met with the deans of the graduate programs and professional schools, as well as the directors of the Hopkins Center and the Hood Museum of Art.
"This is a historically exciting time to be on this campus in terms of what's happening with the physical facilities," Neukom said, mentioning the development of designs for an "art precinct," which would include a visual art center.
Wright added that all of the construction on campus is proceeding on schedule, with renovations to Alumni Gymnasium expected to finish early in the Spring term.
The trustees met with students several times over the weekend, including a meeting with four Student Assembly leaders at which the trustees agreed to devote more time during future trustee weekends to talking with students.
The trustees also had an informal luncheon with a group of student leaders on Saturday. The students' opinions of the Dartmouth experience were very positive, Neukom said.
"These student leaders gave the College good marks for the sort of learning experience that they were having in the classroom and outside the classroom," he said.
The potential end of Tubestock, a traditional summer party on the Connecticut River, was mentioned during some of these conversations but never formally considered or discussed by the board, Neukom said, adding that the Board does not know much about the issue, nor does it have an opinion.
"We want people to have some fun [over Sophomore summer], but we generally would like that fun to happen in a way that appeals to the students but is in a reasonably safe set of circumstances," Neukom said. "How all that plays out is up to people in the administration and the students."
The trustees also heard a report from Ozzie Harris, special assistant to the president for institutional diversity and equity, on the College's federally-mandated affirmative action plan. The trustees approved the plan for 2006, which did not include any significant changes from the 2005 plan.
The Board will return to campus during Commencement weekend, June 9 to 11, when they will approve the budget for the next year.
