Verbum Ultimum: Unacceptable Unaffordability
By The Dartmouth Editorial Board
Published on Monday, March 4, 2013
On Saturday, the Board of Trustees announced a significant increase in Dartmouth’s cost of attendance (“College costs to rise 3.8 percent,” Mar. 4). Next year, Dartmouth will become the second Ivy League institution after Columbia to exceed $60,000 per year in student costs. The raise, however, is actually the smallest percentage increase in Dartmouth’s cost of attendance in over 10 years. These repeated, exorbitant hikes are distressing to current students and may explain much of the College’s difficulty securing its yield in recent years.
The facts are simple. Undergraduate tuition, room, board and mandatory fees have increased to $60,201 in 2013-2014 from $52,275 in 2010-2011. Meanwhile, the College’s operating budget, which excludes capital expenditures, ballooned to $981 million in fiscal year 2014 from $829 million in fiscal year 2011. Put differently, undergraduate cost and the College’s operating expenses have increased by more than 15 percent and 18 percent, respectively, in just three years. By comparison, the U.S. consumer price index, a measure of overall inflation, has risen by less than 6.5 percent in the same period.
We undergraduates highly value what Dartmouth has to offer. However, over the last three years, the cost of attendance and the College’s spending has skyrocketed while, if anything, student dissatisfaction has grown. Dartmouth has long defended its sticker price by pointing out that the true cost of a Dartmouth education is more than double the amount charged to students. But this is also valid for other Ivies, all but one of whom have a lower cost of attendance.
Given the significant increases in cost of attendance, it is perhaps not surprising that Dartmouth’s yield has been in decline. Princeton’s annual cost of attendance is $6,000 less than Dartmouth’s. For students who are admitted to both schools, an extra $6,000 per year in costs does not make the decision to attend Dartmouth any easier.
We propose two simple goals to stop this madness: first, the College should commit to, within three years, having a cost of attendance that is no more than the average cost of attendance at other Ivy League universities. The cost of living is lower in the Upper Valley than in the areas where our peer institutions are located. Second, before the Class of 2018 matriculates, the College should clearly spell out the cost of attendance for all four years of a students’ time in Hanover. In few aspects of life other than higher education will an individual commit to paying for something before they actually know what the price will be. The College should be honest with prospective students about the total cost of their education. These items are the least that students can expect from Dartmouth.
An earlier version of this article misspelled unaffordability in the title.
Dartmouth pays too many people too much. People who have nothing to do with any students education need to be knocked off of the payroll in significant numbers. The College is a very expensive jobs program for thousands of slackers and political hacks.
By Anon on Mar 4 | 12:54 am
Thank you for this well-written piece.
By ‘13 on Mar 4 | 1:04 am
The D grows a pair. It’s about time. Now you should suggest to the College where they can make cuts. We have too many people making too much money with too many benefits.
By Here Here on Mar 4 | 3:51 am
Affordability is spelled wrong
By Typo on Mar 4 | 4:45 am
One of the unintended consequences of spiraling college costs at elite schools such as Dartmouth is that the middle is being perpetually squeezed by both ends of the economic spectrum.
On the one end, there are the well-deserving scholarship students whose families simply cannot afford a Dartmouth education, but are giving an opportunity of a lifetime with a “full boat” ride.
On the other end of the spectrum are the very, very well off students whose family assets range anywhere from 5-10 Million right on up to the hundreds of millions. There are quite a number of these students at Dartmouth who pay the retail tuition price as easily as buying chewing gum at the 5-and-dime.
And then there are those in the middle who either have to take on a ton of student debt, have their families drain their savings, or some combination of the two.
I am not so optimistic that the Dartmouth Board of Trustees will lose even one night of sleep over this last group. That will only come when these middle to upper-middle class, public school over-achievers take their money elsewhere.
Perhaps only then will the snug and comfy Trustees begin a tossing and turning in their sleep.
By Anonymous on Mar 4 | 7:51 am
Agreed. The College would be wise to listen to this advice, particularly in light of the current concerns over declining enrollment and growing student dissatisfaction.
By Dartmouth Parent 14 on Mar 4 | 8:05 am
I also agree with Typo On’s comment. How can a family that even makes 250k a year afford Dartmouth’s tuition without serious economic consequences for the family.
So, we are winding up with many children from high income/net worth families. In many cases, these children will not be as motivated and hungry for success as the children of middle class families. That is Dartmouth’s loss.
By Anonymous on Mar 5 | 10:54 am