Trustees approve tuition rate hikes

BY RAY DELGADO

The Board of Trustees on Tuesday set rates for tuition, room and board for the 2004-05 academic year that represent a combined 4.5 percent increase over the current year's rates for undergraduates.

The undergraduate tuition rate was set at $29,847, a 4.5 percent increase from $28,564 this year. The standard undergraduate room rate rose 6.1 percent, from $4,726 to $5,012. Standard board increased 3.2 percent, from $4,347 to $4,488.

"After the budget cuts of the last several years, including no salary increase this past year, we are beginning to see some improvement in the overall economy," said Isaac Stein, chair of the Board of Trustees. "On the other hand, we continue to have inflationary pressures on our expenses, and tuition is a critical part of the unrestricted funding of our operations. We're pleased that we are again able to hold the overall increase for undergraduate charges to 4.5 percent."

Stein also noted that net tuition (an average across the student body that is paid when financial aid is figured in) has risen far less than the published tuition figure in recent years. "In other words, we are increasing financial aid faster than we are increasing tuition so that we're making sure we do not impair the ability of families to receive the necessary financial aid to attend Stanford," Stein said.

Stanford is one of the few private universities with a need-blind admission policy that accepts students regardless of their ability to pay. The money the university collects from tuition covers only 60 percent of the costs of educating an undergraduate. Additionally, 46 percent of undergraduate students receive some form of need-based financial aid from the university.

Tuition for terminal graduate students -- doctoral candidates who have completed all coursework and degree requirements except the dissertation -- was increased to $10,000 for four quarters, an approximately 50 percent increase over the previous rate. Stanford's terminal graduate tuition rate is still lower than that charged by most of its peer institutions, which require students to pay full tuition until the doctoral degree is awarded.

Part-time graduate tuition rose 4.5 percent from $18,600 to $19,440, which represents 65 percent of the full-time tuition rate for graduate students.

Tuition rates for Graduate Engineering and the School of Law rose 4.5 percent, while School of Medicine tuition rose 4.6 percent. Tuition rose 4.9 percent for the Graduate School of Business.