by Bailey Porter
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne’s annual undergraduate tuition is set to increase by 5 percent this fall, jumping from $19,500 to $20,500.
The rise is due in part to increased expenses as well as the budget demands of salary adjustments, said ULV Executive Vice President Phil Hawkey. The University worker’s compensation expenses tripled, from $300,000 to $900,000 last month, he said.
Even with the increase, ULVs tuition is lower than that of competing local universities such as Chapman University, the University of Redlands and Whittier College.
Currently, Chapman’s tuition is $23,316 a year, while Whittier’s is $22,278 and Redlands’ is $22,675.
Hawkey said he does not expect enrollment to decline based on the planned tuition increase. But he added that when such a jump occurs, there is an increase in the pressure put on students to make payments on tuition fees, room and board.
Nevertheless, while costs increase, so does the amount of financial aid awarded to ULV students.
According to a survey conducted by the College Board, there is $90 billion available in financial aid to college students nationwide. This is more than ever before and an 11.5 percent increase from last year.
Also based on College Board information, in the 2002-2003 school year, college students nationwide attending four-year private universities paid on average $18,273, an increase of 5.8 percent from the year before. At the same time 38 percent of those students paid less than $4,000 in tuition and fees and almost 70 percent paid less than $8,000. Only 7 percent of college students at four-year private colleges paid $24,000 or more.
With the tuition increase here, students will see some program improvements.
One of those will be a web-based registration program, which will allow students to complete class registration, billing and financial aid business online.
“I think the technology is good, but if we have better resources as a result of the increase, then that is a lot better,” said Tiffany Davis, freshman.
By this fall, undergraduate students will have complete access to online registration and graduate students will be set up for the same opportunities by the fall of 2004, Hawkey said.
Other changes may include modifying general education requirements, which could affect ULV students fees, by lowering the number of units required for graduation.
