WM Tuition Will Increase Next Year

By Amber Lester Kennedy Saturday, April 16, 2011

The cost to attend the College of William and Mary will increase next year, according to the budget approved Friday morning by the Board of Visitors.

The total cost for in-state undergraduates will rise 5.5 percent to $22,024. The total cost for out-of-state undergraduates will increase 5.7 percent in 2011 to $44,854. Tuition and fees will also increase for in-state and out-of-state students in the college’s graduate and professional programs.

“The budget adopted by the Board of Visitors today, including increases in tuition and fees, reflects the need to close the gap created by recent budget cuts by the Commonwealth and the elimination of federal stimulus funds,” said Henry Wolf, rector of the board of visitors. He said to meet the challenge of reduced public funding, the college must rely on increased revenue from tuition and fees; enhanced philanthropic support; and improved innovation and efficiency.

For in-state students, tuition and fees will go up 7.7 percent to $13,132 and board fees will go up 6 percent to $3,660. For out-of-state students, tuition and fees will go up 6.5 percent to $35,962 and board fees will go up 6 percent to $3,660. The rise in boarding fees reflects a new requirement that students living on campus must choose a meal plan; currently, only freshmen living on campus have that requirement.

Vice President for Finance Sam Jones told the Board of Visitors that requiring meal plans after the freshman year is the norm among the college’s peers. The new meals requirement will be implemented for incoming freshman and subsequent classes.

Tuition and fees in 2011-12 for in-state students in the graduate and professional programs are as follows: graduate arts and sciences, education and marine science will increase $194 to $10,962; law will increase $2,400 to $26,200; and business will increase $2,200 to $27,200.

For out-of-state graduate students, tuition and fees will increase as follows: graduate arts and science, education and marine science will increase $194 to $24,832; law will increase $2,400 to $36,200; and business will increase $1,750 to $38,250.

The budget includes an additional $1.8 million in financial aid for 2012, in accordance with the college’s policy to increase aid when tuition increases. Between 2008 and 2010, WM’s financial aid has increased by $9.1 million.

College leaders entered budget season knowing the university would lose the $6.9 million of federal stimulus monies that provided a cushion in the past two years. They braced themselves for cuts from state funding, but for the first time since 2007, no new cuts were proposed. The General Assembly passed a $100 million higher education initiative, which will provide the college with $900,000 in additional funding for financial aid, STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and support for enrollment growth.

Despite the positive growth in revenue, Jones said Friday the budget includes another $1 million in cuts yet to be identified. From 2008 to 2010, the college has reduced continuing expenses by more than $8 million and by more than $6 million at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Last fall, the college launched a review of business and academic processes to encourage innovation and even greater efficiency across campus. The results of the review are posted here.

In a message shared with the campus, President Taylor Reveley gave the GA credit for its support, but noted the college still has to deal with the impacts of five separate cuts over the past three years. State funding has been reduced to the college by $17.1 million since April 2008. Since 1980, the state contribution to the operating budget has decreased from 43 percent to less than 13 percent for fiscal year 2012.

He emphasized the need for more philanthropy to support the college’s goals. Donations will account for 10 percent of the operating funds in the new budget.

“As William & Mary comes to depend more and more on the private side of the public/private partnership that now funds the College’s operations, the families benefitting from what the College provides are being asked increasingly to help shoulder the costs of one of the very best undergraduate educations in the country,” Reveley said. “William & Mary, for its part, will seek to raise additional private funds to expand support for financial aid for both need-based and merit-based programs. We will intensify our efforts to build a powerful philanthropic base for William & Mary, and we will work assiduously on the campus’s cost-effectiveness.”