Letters to the Editor
Chronicle of Higher Education

To the Editor:

The Chronicle has gotten it wrong not once but twice regarding tuition (“Higher and Higher,” May 9).

First, contrary to the Chronicle’s report, the average rate of tuition increases at private colleges and universities is holding steady, not increasing. A recent NAICU survey finds that the average rate for 2003-04 is 5.8 percent, identical to the findings from our 2002-03 survey and the College Board’s figure that was published several months later. More than 250 institutions responded to our request for published tuition data, making it the most comprehensive summary of private college tuition trends currently available.

Secondly, private colleges have kept increases in their net tuition (students’ out-of-pocket tuition costs after grants and scholarships) under inflation over the last decade (17.3 percent vs. 18.7 percent, respectively), even while rises in tuition list price continue to outpace the Consumer Price Index.

The real tuition story this year is the remarkable, yet largely unheralded, ability of private colleges and universities to keep tuition increases in check, despite declining endowments, drops in fund raising, inadequate state and federal support for student aid, a spike in student financial need—and skyrocketing health, technology, and insurance costs.

The conclusion should be obvious; private colleges and universities are making great strides in controlling their costs, enhancing their efficiency, and giving students from all backgrounds a world-class academic experience at the lowest possible cost.

Low-income students who aspire for college risk being left behind unless the Bush administration and Congress immediately change course and significantly increase—not decrease or ignore—funding for the nation’s proven student aid programs.

It is a disservice to these low-income students and others when the media focus their attention solely on published tuition rates—rather than net tuition—and then compound the problem by misreporting the facts about these published rates.

Sincerely,

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities