During its January meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a 6.9 percent increase in comprehensive fees for the 2004-2005 school year. The total cost for tuition, room and board and general fees next year will be $34,156, compared to this year’s total of $31,944.

Next year, tuition (not including room and board or the activity fee) will increase 6.3 percent. Vice President of Administration and Treasurer David Wheaton said that this rise is higher than Macalester’s usual rate of tuition increase, which he said has been around five to six percent for each of the past few years.

Statistics on the web site of the Office of Institutional Research show that Macalester’s 2002 to 2003 percentage increase of 5.5 percent was the exact mean for schools in its peer group. Carleton College’s tuition increased six percent, Oberlin’s 5.8 percent, Pomona’s 4.5 percent and Grinnell’s 4.1 percent.

Last week, The Mac Weekly published a letter from President Brian Rosenberg in which he explained the reasons for the increase. Rosenberg clarified via e-mail that the college is committed to maintaining need-blind admissions, but that it will be a challenge considering Macalester’s rising tuition and high discount rate.

“Better fundraising would be a big help; attracting to Mac more students who can afford to pay full tuition would also make it easier to provide funds for those who have need,” he wrote.

Rosenberg explained the process through which decisions about tuition are made, calling it “a long and pretty inclusive process.” According to Rosenberg, the Task Force on the Budget (TFOB), which is made up of staff, faculty and students, gives a recommendation to the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees, which has the ability to propose suggestions and changes before the entire board votes on the final decision.

Wheaton said that the Board makes the decision in January so that Macalester can calculate financial aid packages for new applicants. The board will approve the final budget in March.

“The only other viable option was more dramatic cuts in the operating budget,” Rosenberg wrote. “We felt that it was important to preserve as many programs and services for students as possible, at a high level of excellence.”

Students had mixed feelings about the increase.

“As much as I don’t like the tuition increase, part of me would rather have a tuition increase than have the college eliminate need-blind admissions,” Peter Kirschmann ’07 said. “I feel like Macalester isn’t very socioeconomically diverse, and that would be even more of a problem if we didn’t have need-blind admissions.”

Many of the 70 percent of students who receive need-based financial aid are concerned about how the tuition increase will affect their aid packages. Director of Financial Aid Brian Lindeman said that students’ need-based financial aid is reevaluated each year, taking into account family income changes and tuition increases. Lindeman said that grants and work-study awards may go up slightly, but the majority of the new compensation will be through loans.

Lindeman said that although Macalester’s budget will increase from $20.1 million to nearly $22 million next year, the college will use much of the new money to cover the higher demand for financial aid. He said the administration would like to lower the discount rate—the average amount of tuition the college gives back to students in the form of financial aid—from its current level of 45 percent.

However, Lindeman said, “We feel it’s very important to allow students from many different types of families to attend Macalester.” He emphasized that Macalester gives out more financial aid than most of its peer schools.

In his letter, Rosenberg wrote that “the college has remained near the very bottom of its 40-school comparison group in both price and tuition revenue.”

Wheaton echoed this statement. He said that Macalester’s academic reputation has been improving over the past decade, but the tuition price and revenue have remained comparatively low.

In the most recent U.S. News and World Report liberal-arts college rankings, Macalester had the 15th highest academic reputation, but it was ranked 35th for financial resources. Furthermore, the magazine ranked Macalester 71st in alumni giving.

Wheaton credits the academic improvement in part to a large gift given by the Wallace family in 1956 that increased the endowment at that point and allowed for major investments when the stock market was strong in the late 1990s.

“We invested the endowment money to get here,” Wheaton said, “and tuition will have to keep us here.”

He said that the college will spend some of the extra revenue on academics, admissions and library resources.

Academic priorities will include department budgets, faculty salaries and research grants. The money will also go toward the hiring of additional admissions staff and the updating of admissions publications.

“We’re desperate for staff,” Assistant Dean of Admissions Nancy Mackenzie said. The number of applications has increased 58 percent in the past decade, and Wheaton said that the admissions staff has remained largely the same size.

Most of the admissions publications were produced in 1993 and Mackenzie said she thinks applicants notice that they look dated.

Library Director Terri Fishel said that money directed toward the library budget will be used to renew subscriptions to serials, the prices of which increase eight to 10 percent each year. She said that the library was forced to cut $30,000 in serials last year, and will be making more cuts this year despite the additional funds.