Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991 TAG: 9102230046
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Early indications around the country suggest that many private, four-year institutions are finally trying to put the brakes on a decade-long tuition surge that threatens to put those schools out of reach of the middle class.
Most schools checked are increasing next fall's tuitions in the 4-7 percent range, within a percentage point or so of the nation's 1990 inflation rate of 6.1 percent.
That contrasts with the 9.6 percent average annual increase by four-year private schools throughout the '80s.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a highly regarded engineering school in Worcester, Mass., announced a freeze on tuition and fees on Monday.
On Friday, Susquehanna University of Selinsgrove, Pa., announced a 5.95 percent tuition increase for next fall, its smallest jump in more than a dozen years.
"This year, our sense was that the economic pressures on some of our families were such that we had to be very careful on tuition, without giving ground on quality," Susquehanna President Joel Cunningham said.
Many college leaders said they are acting to provide some relief to middle-income students caught between rising tuitions, a weak economy and student aid programs they frequently don't qualify for.
Such students "are doubly squeezed," said Thomas Manion, president of St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., which is boosting tuition and fees 7 percent next fall.
"Their parents earn too much for them to qualify for many kinds of need-based financial aid, but not enough for them to pay for their children's education at a private college."
Some, including Worcester Polytechnic President Jon Strauss, see added meaning in next fall's moderation: a possible end to what higher education circles have called the "Chivas Regal" syndrome - the belief that, as with fine Scotch, students will flock to schools that charge the most.
During the prosperous '80s, that belief proved true at many private colleges.
Now, with top schools asking $10,000 and $20,000 a year in the midst of a recession, students and their parents are increasingly turning to less costly four-year public institutions. Even community colleges once sneered at by better students are seeing huge enrollment gains.
Private university officials now foresee a difficult era in which they will be struggling to restrain tuition to stay competitive, while somehow maintaining the "Chivas Regal" quality they believe is their edge.
"Efficiency is the buzzword for the '90s," said Luis Glazer, provost of the University of Miami, which announced a tuition increase of less than 8 percent next fall after seven years of raises averaging nearly 10 percent.
"Colleges everywhere are re-evaluating their programs and asking whether they need to do all things. Everyone's going with lower tuitions. It's the atmosphere right now. Some things will take a beating," he said.
Some argue that the moderation proclaimed by colleges is somewhat illusory. Colleges already charging hefty fees can claim they are slowing the tuition spiral by holding down percentage increases, while continuing to reap healthy dollar increases.
Strauss adds that his college, and probably others, are at a point of diminishing returns with tuition increases. He said Worcester Polytechnic decided not to raise next fall's tuition after concluding that higher fees wouldn't produce much added revenue because much of it would go back to students in the form of financial aid.
by CNB