Tuition fees at the College will increase by 3.48 percent for the 2011-2012 school year, bringing the comprehensive fee to $53,800. 

Vice President for Administration and Treasurer and Professor of Administrative Science Douglas Terp said that “the Board of Trustees ultimately votes on the comprehensive fee increase and the budget,” after taking a variety of aspects into account. The tuition fee “generates more than 70 percent of [the College’s] revenue” and reflects factors driving cost pressures—such as the inflation rate, the increasing cost of food, energy and health insurance—as well as employee compensation and financial aid expenses, Terp said. 

As President William Adams explained in the Official Announcement he sent to the College community on March 31, “The percent increase and new total charges place Colby at about the middle of the group of peer colleges and universities that have thus far announced their fees for the coming academic year.” 

Percent increases among the group of 30 peer institutions ranged from about one percent to 5.9 percent, Terp said. Dartmouth University and Yale University experienced the largest increases, with 5.9 percent and 5.8 percent increases, respectively. 

Terp said that this year’s increase is the second lowest percentage increase the College has experienced within the last 10 years. Still, “it’s more than we would have liked, [and] I’m sure more than most parents would have liked,” he said. “We want to try to provide the best quality education we can, and we try to work within the resources we have, and when the cost for providing those services goes up, the comprehensive fee…will go up.”

Though many factors affect the amount of financial aid a student receives, “in general, we do take into account the comprehensive fee increase when we look at next year’s aid package,” Terp said. “The aid budget is also increasing…we’ve made a fairly significant commitment through the recession to increase the resources for financial aid.” 

Overall, however, Terp said that “[The College has] said all along that we expect the comprehensive fee will increase every year…[and it will increase] over the rate of inflation,” as the College is “trying to develop the quality of the academic and educational program.”