Spring Break
Hopkins tuition increases by 4.9 percent
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Applying to the over 4,000 undergraduates in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering, the 4.9 percent increase will raise the tuition rate to $28,730 for 2003-2004, an increase of $1,340. This year's tuition rate of $27,390 represented an increase of 5.1 percent from the year before.
According to Jerome Schnydman, secretary of the Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees, "The Board felt that in these particular difficult times, it was important to keep the tuition increases at around five percent."
Schnydman also noted that as the costs of higher education in the United States continue to rise, the price that students pay in tuition is no longer adequate to finance the operations of the University. At Hopkins, tuition is used to finance not only the costs of instruction, but also support services, the basic health service, sports and recreation programs and various student activities.
Steven Knapp, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, noted, "Education is an extremely labor-intensive activity, and that is one critical reason why the cost of providing a university education tends to rise faster than the overall rate of inflation. It is important to realize that, even with these increases, tuition does not cover the full cost of instruction and has to be supplemented by revenue from other sources, such as endowment and alumni contributions."
The increase represents the continuing efforts of the University to reign in the tuition hikes of previous years. During the 2000-2001 school year, tuition rose 5.4 percent over the previous year's figure.
For the past seven years, tuition increases for full-time undergraduates in the two schools have been kept below 5 percent. Increases above that figure came only when charges to operate two new student life centers, the Mattin Center for the Arts and the O'Connor Recreation Center, were factored into the tuition rate structure. For 22 straight years prior to these past seven, tuition increases had exceeded 5 percent, with 10 percent or higher increases occurring seven times within that frame.
Daniel Weiss, dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, also stated the commitment of the administration to holding tuition increases to a level below that of the early 1990's and before.
"Combined with our increased emphasis on financial aid in our budgeting process and fundraising efforts, the smaller increase in tuition helps to minimize the impact of increased costs on out students and their families," said Weiss.
This year, 55 percent of the Homewood undergraduates receive need-based aid, with 47 percent receiving aid from the University's own funds.
From all sources - university funds, federal grants and loans, and private aid - this year's total financial package is $52 million.
Knapp said, "We [the University administration] are very concerned about the burden that the cost of attending Johns Hopkins places on our students and their families, and that is why the President and the Deans put so much effort not only into fundraising in general but specifically into raising funds for student financial aid. We are also constantly looking for ways to reduce our costs without reducing the quality of the education we provide."
Most colleges and universities have not yet announced their tuition for next year, so it is not possible at this time to know where Johns Hopkins will rank in its peer group for 2003-2004, according to Dennis O'Shea, executive director of communications and public affairs.
Among a group of 18 peer universities, including the entire Ivy League and schools such as MIT, Stanford, Duke, and Georgetown, Johns Hopkins ranked 11th in its peer group for tuition rates for this year.