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1995-1996 index

Undergraduate charges will total $28,658

Brown University tuition will rise 4.8 percent for 1996-97, to $21,592

• Tuition for an undergraduate student at Brown next year will be $21,592, a 4.8 percent increase. An advisory committee had recommended a 5.4 percent tuition hike, but President Vartan Gregorian recommended that the University Corporation approve the lower figure. Total charges also will rise 4.8 percent, from $27,340 to $28,658.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Corporation of Brown University today continued its commitment to restrict budget growth and costs by approving some of the lowest percentage increases in student charges since the 1970s. Undergraduate tuition for the 1996-97 academic year will increase 4.8 percent, from $20,608 to $21,592. The total cost of a year at Brown, including tuition, room, board and all student fees, will rise 4.8 percent, from $27,340 to $28,658.

Editors: A 10-year history of tuition, room, board and fees at Brown follows below.

The Advisory Committee on University Planning (ACUP), a panel of students, faculty and staff that reviews the University's spending and revenue options, had recommended that President Vartan Gregorian seek a tuition increase of 5.4 percent. But for the fourth consecutive year, Gregorian recommended a lower figure to the Corporation, the University's governing body.

Tuition accounts for nearly 80 percent of the University's unrestricted funds and is one of two elements that determine the University's revenue expectations for the coming fiscal year. The other - the draw on endowment - was also set at the meeting. The Corporation approved lowering the endowment draw by a tenth of a point to 5.0 percent of the applicable market value. Reducing the draw, which the Corporation has done annually by a tenth of a point since fiscal year 1993, helps the University preserve and enhance the value of its endowment, which now contributes more than 10 percent of the University's total revenues, compared with only 7.5 percent a decade ago.

ACUP also recommended a 4.7 percent increase in the University's proposed budget growth for FY 97. Gregorian recommended a lower figure - 4.4 percent - which requires expenditure-side cuts in the operating budget, fringe benefits and the President's Contingency Fund. The Corporation votes on Gregorian's recommendation at its May meeting. If approved, it would be the sixth consecutive year in which The University's budget growth has been less than 5 percent.

"The University faces a critical challenge to remain affordable for the greatest number of students while sustaining its fundamental strengths - a unique curriculum and an excellent faculty that is deeply committed to undergraduate instruction," said Donald J. Reaves, vice president for finance and administration. "Setting the tuition level almost always involves very difficult decisions between tuition and salary increases. Those decisions are never made lightly. The largest component of the 4.8-percent tuition increase is faculty and staff salary increases, which are necessary if Brown is to attract and retain the distinguished faculty and staff who guarantee the quality of the Brown experience."

Next year's 4.8-percent increase in total charges will trigger a proportional increase in the scholarship budget. Based on its proposed 5.4-percent tuition increase, ACUP had recommended a scholarship budget of about $31.8 million, up $1.8 million over last year. For more than a decade, student aid has been one of the fastest-growing items in Brown's budget. More than a third of Brown's undergraduates receive scholarship support.

A 10-Year History of Undergraduate Tuition and Fees

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