Dartmouth Trustees approve tuition for 2000-2001

Posted 02/14/00

Continuing its efforts to limit the rate of undergraduate tuition increase, the Dartmouth Board of Trustees has approved an increase of 3.5 percent for the 2000-2001 academic year -- the same percentage increase as last year.

Next year's tuition for Dartmouth undergraduate students, as well as that for graduate students in the arts and sciences and in engineering, will be $25,497. Combined tuition, room and board charges for undergraduates will be $33,210, an increase of 3.8 percent overall.

Tuition for Dartmouth Medical School will be $27,300, an increase of 5.8 percent; for Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business Administration, $28,740, an increase of 5.9 percent. Tuition for Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering is the same as that for arts and sciences.

For 2000-2001, Dartmouth expects to award nearly $30 million in undergraduate scholarship aid.

In 2000-2001 Dartmouth expects to award $29.8 million in undergraduate scholarship aid from its own funds. This aid will assist approximately 1,840 students, providing an average scholarship of $17,080 for three terms of attendance. This commitment of Dartmouth resources represents a 6.4 percent increase over 1999-2000, compared to an increase of only 3.5 percent in tuition, and is a result of a series of initiatives implemented last year that increased significantly the scholarship assistance provided to students.

Dartmouth also continues its long-standing policy of "need-blind" (or "need-moot") undergraduate admissions, which means that applicants are admitted without consideration of their financial circumstances and that the College then commits to fund the full extent of demonstrated need for a full four years.

The substantial enhancements to its financial aid program that the College implemented last year included significant increases in scholarship assistance; reduced loan expectations; the reduction or elimination of family assets from financial aid calculations; and a case-by-case approach to needs analysis that results in a more realistic level of family contribution to tuition, room and board charges. Specific measures include:

Reduced loan expectations on a graduated basis according to family income. Dartmouth has had a long-standing policy that recognizes the burden loans place on low and middle income students and their families. To address these concerns, the College has expanded its existing policy to further reduce loan expectations on a graduated basis, according to family income.

• Students from families with incomes below $30,000 will see their loans reduced by $3,625 to zero in the first year of enrollment.
• Students from families with incomes between $30,000 and $45,000 will see their loans reduced by $2,400.
• Students from families with incomes between $45,000 and $60,000 will see their loans reduced by $1,000.

In total, these loan reductions will affect approximately 54 percent of the financial aid recipients at Dartmouth and will add a total of $1.98 million to the scholarships awarded when fully implemented.

Continuation of Dartmouth's case-by-case assessment of family assets in the needs analysis. For quite some time, Dartmouth has recognized that the needs analysis formula, commonly used by selective institutions to determine eligibility for financial aid, often results in unrealistic contributions for middle income families. Adjustments have been made to this formula, particularly as it affects assets and home equity, to make expected family contributions more realistic. For many families, this means that the home equity has either been eliminated or reduced, or that the contribution from all assets has been decreased. This case-by-case approach will affect approximately 37 percent of financial aid recipients and add $1.5 million to the College's scholarship awards when fully implemented.

All Dartmouth undergraduate students retain 100 percent of any outside scholarships they receive. Many civic organizations and corporations provide merit scholarships to Dartmouth students, and students who win such scholarships from external sources are able to keep these funds to reduce the loan and/or job portions of their financial aid packages. As a result, Dartmouth will increase the amount of its own funds devoted to scholarship assistance by $1.3 million when fully implemented. Approximately one-third of Dartmouth financial aid recipients benefit from this policy.

Dartmouth enables families to realize the full benefit of the $1,500 Hope Scholarship. Dartmouth is committed to enabling families to use this additional resource to further reduce loans.

Dartmouth has increased the scholarship budget for first-year international students by 6 percent. The enrollment of international students has been an admissions priority at Dartmouth for many years. Presently, Dartmouth commits $2.3 million each year to scholarship assistance for international students.

"Dartmouth's historic strength lies in its ability to attract the most talented and diverse students from across the country and around the world," said Dean of Admissions and Associate Provost Karl Furstenberg. "By continuing to hold down the rate of increase in tuition and enhancing our financial aid programs, we can preserve that historic strength and build for the future."