At its February meeting, the Ithaca College Board of Trustees approved a budget that features the smallest percentage hike in tuition, room and board in a decade. For 2012–13, tuition will be $37,000, with charges for the standard room and board plan at $13,400. This 4.71% rise in price represents the smallest rate of increase since 2002–3.
In a letter to parents announcing next year’s charges, President Tom Rochon noted that the budget planning process takes into account how best to invest in the human and physical resources that will ensure the college’s ongoing ability to meet the needs of both current and future students.
“I believe that the budget we have developed represents our best efforts to control expenditures and to apply the smallest possible cost increase while continuing to improve the already-high quality of an Ithaca College education,” he wrote.
To provide some context, accompanying the letter is a chart showing the tuition charges for the current year at a group of 20 private colleges and universities with which Ithaca annually compare itself. Ithaca’s tuition for 2012–13 will still be lower than even this year’s tuition is at all but four of those institutions.
Rochon pointed out that the college’s budget includes over $88 million for institutional financial aid.
“Let me assure you that we will maintain our focus on both affordability and academic quality,” he wrote, noting that “U.S. News and World Report” consistently ranks Ithaca as a “best buy.”
He also expressed excitement about the ongoing implementation of IC 20/20, the college’s strategic vision that focuses on building a learning community responsive to the needs of a complex and demanding future.
“In January we launched a program in New York City that enables students to combine classroom study with internships. In the coming months, we will be ramping up our faculty development office, giving professors the opportunity to continually hone their teaching skills in an ever-changing technology environment.
“We will further strengthen the student-alumni connection, providing mentoring opportunities and working with the Office of Career Services to promote internship and job availabilities. In the first step toward implementing a new core curriculum, students this fall will begin enrolling in seminars that will provide them with the tools of academic analysis to help them think effectively about the most important issues of our time.”
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20120221120915360