Brooke Grasso
Editor in Chief
University of La Verne students will pay roughly $1,500 more to attend the University in 2017-18 than they did this year, thanks to a tuition increase of 3.88 percent scheduled to take effect in Fall 2017.
“To be able to continue and deliver a quality education there needs to be some increase,” President Devorah Lieberman said.
Students entering their senior year will pay over $4,500 more for their last year at ULV than they did when they chose it as their school four years ago.
The largest portion of the budget is dedicated to compensation and financial aid, said Provost Jonathan Reed.
To maintain competitive salaries and continue increasing financial aid for students with a low estimated family contribution an increase is necessary, Reed added.
Lieberman said students were awarded $53 million in scholarships for the 2016-2017 school year and she hopes that number will increase in 2017-2018.
The tuition increase discussion began in fall 2016 when the deans, the president’s executive council and the Board of Trustees had a sense of the budget for the next fiscal year. Then the proposal was taken to the Associated Students of University of La Verne for input.
“They are strong advocates for very low tuition increases,” Reed said.
“But what we always point out is that we are doing a fine balancing act between keeping tuition as low as possible, keeping financial aid as high as possible and keeping the academic quality and student services as high as possible.”
Administrators initially made the increase proposal for between 4 percent and 5 percent, ASULV President Alexis Coria said.
When Coria went to her bi-annual meeting with the Board of Trustees, she pushed for a compromise that would work for students but also provide the needed funds.
“I wanted to tackle it straight on, so I went to the Board in October and advocated for what students need, and over 4 percent would be unrealistic,” Coria said.
The budget gets finalized in April and approved by the Board of Trustees in May.
Coria said ASULV had asked for a 3 percent increase, but 3.88 percent was the final compromise.
Even with the tuition increase, La Verne compares favorably to its local, private competitors.
With Occidental College and Pitzer College’s tuition at more than $50,000 per year, La Verne is well under its competition at around $40,000.
Brooke Grasso can be reached at brooke.grasso@laverne.edu.
