As has been the case for the past seven years, the cost of tuition is increasing.
Tuition will rise by $1,070, an increase of about 3.8 percent from last year’s cost, and this change will apply to all students.
Several factors have lead to the rising tuition.
One factor is that the price of natural gas has gone up, which affects the costs of heating buildings, water and generating electricity.
NW is also planning on increasing compensation for faculty and staff. In addition, the price of health insurance for employees and students hasn’t maintained a consistent rate. All these contributing factors require money — funds that come from the main source of revenue for NW, which is tuition and room and board.
To remain competitive with other colleges, NW must offer programs and opportunities that will stand out to top students. Such initiatives require money.
Some of these costs will appear through the fees added to student bills. In previous years, NW has boasted about not requiring additional fees for students. Next year, students will be required to pay both lab and studio fees as well as a graduation fee in addition to the current technology fee.
The addition of these fees will not be out of the ordinary when compared to other schools.
Most students will, at some point, take advantage of the technology resources and help available on campus. Most students use either an art studio or science lab at least once while being enrolled, and nearly all students will graduate. That fee will help shoulder the cost of transcripts, diplomas, caps and gowns and ceremony.
Each year, the Administrative Council is faced with the same question of how to be most efficient in the budget plan.
“This (budget) involves a lot of input,” said Doug Beukelman, Vice President of Financial Affairs.
An ideal plan is calculated and brought to the Administrative Council to be cut, revised and approved on a more affordable basis.
Once approved, NW president Greg Christy takes the plan to the Executive Committee to be approved or denied. Depending on the outcome of this, it is either taken into action through several other boards or is revised again to find more cost-effective routes. Ultimately, the full board must approve the budget before it can be implemented.
“(Finding) more efficiencies is a hard thing to do,” Christy said. “We have to cut [expenses] and there will be hard choices.”
Sometimes these hard choices involve not going through with purchases, updates or ideas that would have been beneficial. Sometimes it involves putting off pay increases for staff another year or asking staff to accept pay cuts.
“Faculty and staff have been very careful about the resources they have — I have to commend that,” Christy said.
Although tuition has increased consistently in the past seven years, scholarship rates have also increased (a 7.4 percent increase in scholarships throughout the past 10 years). Next year’s increase in scholarship budget is set at 4.2 percent, while tuition will increase 3.8 percent.
Scholarships held by current students sometimes do not increase every year. Consequently, upperclassmen will try to find ways to pay increasing costs.
