Tuition jump of $1,770 in fall to balance growing budget

By Matthew Meyerhofer

Tuition for the 2004-05 academic year is set to rise seven percent from this year, as administrators try to balance next year's projected $242 million budget.

Budget Director Dennis Roberts said the $1,770 per-student increase comes as a result of increasing university expenses. Next year's tuition is set at $27,135.

Roberts said the single greatest factor is faculty and staff compensation, accounting for 50 percent of the budget, which is expected to rise seven percent next year to $129 million.

"These costs are driven in part by the rising cost of living in Silicon Valley, and by a 22 percent increase in the cost of health plan benefits," Roberts said.

To offset the financial burden of increased tuition, Santa Clara increases the amount of financial aid proportionally.

"When the tuition rate is going up, as it is this year, we also increase our financial aid by the same percentage," Roberts said. "We try to keep them running in tandem."

Financial aid issues are complicated by the possible Cal Grant cuts that California students are facing. Roberts acknowledged that if such cuts go through, there will be additional "pressure" on the operating budget.

Roberts also added, however, that fund-raising connected to the Campaign for Santa Clara, a $350 million goal announced last year, will help to alleviate some of this loss.

"Potentially, the additional scholarship money could offset the loss we see from Cal Grants," he said.

A seven percent increase in tuition from one year to the next is not uncommon for private schools such as Santa Clara, he said.

"It's been very consistent," Roberts said. "The increases have been in the five to eight percent range for the last few years."

In setting the final tuition level, officials say they work to keep Santa Clara in line with other private colleges and universities in California. Santa Clara's current tuition level of $25,365 places it between southern California schools Loyola Marymount University and Pepperdine University, whose tuitions figure at $23,934 and $27,520, respectively. While final figures for other schools are unavailable for the 2004-05 school year, Roberts predicted that other schools would experience similar increases.

Santa Clara has traditionally used a self-designed "Tier" system in order to rank itself against other universities.

Santa Clara officials ranked the university a "Tier 2" school, placing it at the same level as schools like Pepperdine. Stanford and Claremont McKenna College are traditionally thought of as "Tier 1" schools, while Saint Mary's College and the University of San Francisco are labeled "Tier 3."

Higher tier schools are distinguished by having a more prestigious undergraduate profile in terms of students' SAT scores and high school grade point averages. They often have more prestigious academic programs, but also generally cost more to attend. This year, Stanford's tuition was $28,563.

Roberts said Santa Clara is now less concerned about specific standings on the tier system, instead choosing to focus on matching tuition and academic programs to comparable schools.

"What we're trying to do now is pick some institutions that we think we are more similar to or that we aspire to be more like," Roberts said. "We tried to get a feel for what other schools were doing."

One problem administrators have faced in the past when determining tuition rates is setting a rate that does not unfairly burden students who are already attending Santa Clara.

"We have to be a little careful about surprising students with too big of an increase, so that subject comes up a lot," Roberts said.

In past years, administrators have dealt with this problem by setting split tuition rates. In such cases, new freshmen at Santa Clara pay a higher tuition rate than continuing students. As recently as two years ago, there were three active tuition rates â€" one for seniors, one for sophomores and juniors, and one for freshmen. However, split rates have since worked their way out of the system and all current Santa Clara students pay the same tuition.

While Santa Clara students may sometimes complain about their tuition increases, the university has the benefit of being comparatively sheltered from the budgetary crises affecting state institutions.

According to budgetary information released by the University of California, this year, student fees increased 16 percent. If the governor's budget is approved for the coming fiscal year, they will increase by another 12 percent next year.

Conscious of the burden of higher tuition rates, Santa Clara administrators have been seeking out other ways to increase the quality of its academic programs. One plan is to increase the undergraduate student population from 4,500 to 4,600 in the next four years.

The recent economic turnaround will also hopefully help alleviate Santa Clara's budget issues.

"It has encouraged a little more optimism when it comes to gifts," Roberts said, though he also cautioned that because the earnings from Santa Clara's endowment lag behind market indicators, it will be another year or two before the university realizes the full impact of economic recovery.

There are some factors, however, that will remain a budget issue regardless of how the economy behaves â€" such as housing costs.

"Our budget is driven heavily by labor costs and part of that is to handle the housing costs in this area," Roberts explained.

û Contact Matthew Meyerhofer at (408) 554-4546 or mmeyerhofer@scu.edu.