The College's annual adjustments to tuition and financial aid (up and down, respectively) have inspired a series of recent responses. Last week, Roger Lott '14 ("Education on Credit," April 18) and Anise Vance '11 ("Access For All," April 21) debated the merits of need-based financial aid. The two arguments obviously go head-to-head, but I didn't find them completely at odds. There's a way to both prevent Dartmouth's policies from punishing students who do not qualify for aid while also preserving the need-blind system that promotes fairness and inclusivity:
Make tuition free. Yes, free for everyone.
I'm not joking. Free tuition is both possible and extremely beneficial for the College in the long run. In fact, it should be one of Dartmouth's primary goals.
Let me just run through some numbers with you. If all 4,200 enrolled Dartmouth students paid full tuition of approximately $40,000 (without room and board) that would add $168 million to the College's coffers each year. Subtract the slightly under half of the student body who receive financial aid $80 million next year and total revenue from our tuition checks accounts for about $88 million a year.
$88 million is a lot of money, but you have to place it in context. It's only 10 percent of Dartmouth's $876 million operating budget announced for fiscal year 2012, and only 2.9 percent of the College's current endowment. Plus, while the process was controversial, the "Strategic Budget Reduction and Investment" initiative just cut $100 million from the annual budget with little to no change in the average student experience. It's clear that the administration skimmed some fat off the top, but without the transparency argued for by Ethan Wang '13 ("No Tuition Without Representation," April 28) we have no idea if there are more opportunities for "strategic reduction."
Meanwhile, Dartmouth continues to spend money on big projects that match or exceed tuition revenue. The new Visual Arts Center rising slowly on Lebanon Street costs $52 million. An estimated $93 million funds the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center that's slated to open this summer. A $12 million gift helped renovate Thayer Dining Hall into the Class of 1953 Commons. And all of these buildings will require long-term investments into the tens of millions more.
To offset the College's huge budget, the Board of Trustees raised tuition and fees by thousands of dollars, yet simultaneously decreased the endowment distribution. Dartmouth plans to spend only 5.4 percent of the endowment in fiscal year 2012, even after accruing gains of 10 percent last year. In an interview, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Steven Kadish said, "The Board asked us to do budget planning to get endowment spending to as close as possible to 5 percent by Fiscal Year 2014."
Why is the priority to decrease endowment distribution when student expenses are increasing to record levels? I understand that growing the endowment long term is important to keeping the College strong, but sometimes it seems that administrators place growing the treasure chest ahead of education and affordability. After all, increasing the endowment spending by less than half of one percent would offset the entire tuition hike saddled on students.
I'm not advocating to immediately eliminate all tuition. If done over a series of years, starting with a freeze and followed by steady decreases, Dartmouth could wean itself off of tuition revenue with a combination of increased endowment spending and budget cuts (e.g. no need for the financial aid office anymore). Plus, I think the alumni donation rate would grow substantially if an ambitious target like this were announced.
The College's mission is to "educate the most promising students and prepare them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership." Nothing else Dartmouth could do no new building, new set of courses or new extracurricular program would have close to the type of impact such a change would make in furthering this ultimate goal. Not charging tuition would be a groundbreaking and unprecedented decision. It would raise Dartmouth's standing worldwide, separating it from the pack of expensive Ivy League schools. Our mission would attract a stronger applicant pool than ever before. And by removing the need to extract hundreds of thousands of dollars from its students, the College would place its graduates even further down the path toward success.
No one should have to pay over $55,000 a year for higher education. Even at Dartmouth, where the quality is second to none. Especially at Dartmouth, where such a dream is actually possible.
