'97-98 budget includes tuition, salary raises

The Board of Trustees approved the $108.5 million preliminary 1997-8 operating budget at their March meeting three weeks ago. The budget includes a 4 percent increase in tuition, a 7 percent increase in faculty salaries and a 12 percent increase in finacial aid.

The budget also includes a change in the way the endowment payout rate is determined. Instead of setting a rate at the beginning of the fiscal year, the budget includes a percentage increase in endowmnet spending which is tracked to inflation.

This year's increase accounts for both an increase in inflation and the growth expected in the endowment.

This year's discussion among trustees which led the College to move away from the payout rate standard was conducted at the March meeting of the trustees.

In addition to the increase in the revenue from the endowment payout the College will get more revenue from student tuition.

Tuition has been set at $22,282 for next year, but Evans said the figure is subject to some changes. This is a four percent increase of $857 over the $21,425 tuition of last year. Last year's increase was 4 percent as well.

Evans said a major priority in the budgeting process was to keep student fees as low as they could. He said in the past budgets were sometimes made by simply increasing tuition to fit the need for revenue. "The days of thinking of tuition as an endless source are over," Evans said.

The budget for faculty salaries is increasing 7 percent, a raise identical to last year's as well. The increase is broken into some across-the-board increases and some merit increases.

The trustees also approved an increase in total financial aid expenditures of nearly 12 percent. Of the $25.4 million budget for scholarships, $3.8 million will come from the endowment. This is almost a third of all endowment spending projeted for next year.

This is a financial aid increase of $2.7 million above last year's budget of $22.7 million.

Other increases in the budget include a 5.25 percent increase in spending on library materials and an increase of 2 percent of student wages.

The budget is based on many projections that are subject to change, but the general picture is stable, according to Evans. One such prediction is that the amount of revenue from federal Pell Grants will increase five percent.

One expenditure not yet included in the budget is a $7.3 million withdrawl from the endowment over the next seven years for the upcoming capital campaign.