Will the Class of 2014 be looking at a $50,000 price tag for their first year at Tufts? It might, if current trends continue.
According to historical data from the Tufts Office of Institutional Research, Tufts' cost of education increased at an average rate of $1,754 per year over the last 10 years. If this rate continues, the class of 2014 will pay $51,296 to attend Tufts.
With ever-increasing costs and constant competition with other schools, it's still uncertain whether Tufts students will see a tuition increase next year.
According to Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser, "that conversation hasn't happened yet."
There are many reasons that higher education costs, and student tuition, continues to increase.
According to Executive Vice President Steven Manos, "Compensation for faculty and staff exceeds the rate of inflation."
"Schools that we compete with have been increasing educational costs, such as high speed internet availability, and amenities, such as nice dorms," Manos said. "It is highly likely that tuition will go up at a rate similar to those of the schools we compete with."
The Boston Business Journal pegged the Tufts endowment at $1.2 billion this year. The returns on the investment of this endowment go help finance campus costs and new projects.
Although the Boston Business Journal said Tufts' endowment growth "outpaced all of the other major schools in Massachusetts" this year, Glaser said that Tufts is "relatively less endowed," that some other schools and therefore relies more on tuition to keep their budget balanced.
According to the Tufts Bulletin, this year's tuition increased from $31,828 to $33,906, while the total cost with room and board for a first-year student this year increased from approximately $44,100 to $46,035.
Rising costs of education continue to make headlines and have many people concerned.
Yet, high costs are not unique to Tufts and "to date, cost has not had a chilling effect on Tufts' application volume," Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin said.
Still, students are left wondering: how high is too high? Will families continue to pay top dollar for an ever-more-expensive education, or will ever-increasing costs begin to chip away at demand?
According to Manos, the tuition increases will be "offset by financial aid, which the president hopes to increase" as a major focus of Tufts' upcoming Capital Campaign.
"It is essential that Tufts secures the necessary financial resources to preserve access to Tufts for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds," Coffin said. "Issues of affordability are certainly something with which many families struggle and that is a primary reason why the upcoming capital campaign has earmarked need-blind admissions as a key priority."
Yet some students are still perplexed by the rising costs over time. "I hate to think what college will cost when I have kids," senior Mike Kinsella said.
"I think that a lot of Tufts-worthy kids are put off of private universities or Ivies because they cost so much," sophomore Brian Dulmovits said.
Others wonder whether students will be driven abroad with impending high costs.
"I'm increasingly having trouble justifying the high price of school," sophomore Karan Jain said. "Other countries have a much cheaper education systems. There's a program in China where you can go for five years and become a doctor that is a third of the U.S. price. I don't understand how it can keep up like this, especially when the rest of the world isn't following to the same extent."
"I think there will come a point where the market says it's cheaper to go to Europe or cheaper to go to Canada, and private schools will have to compete internationally," sophomore Jeffery Greenberg said.
But when it comes to the bottom line, there are no easy answers.
"Clearly, rising costs at private colleges and universities are a concern for higher education," Coffin said.
