Dean Sees Tuition Rise, Hikes in Room and Board

Tuition and room and board will rise for students in the 1974-5 school year, Robert E. Kaufmann '62, assistant dean of the Faculty for financial affairs, said yesterday.

Kaufmann estimated a $200 rise in tuition. He said that students should expect room and board to cost at least $100 more. Current tuition is $3200, and room and board is $1825.

Dean Rosovsky, in order to prevent further tuition rises, has asked department chairmen not to exceed 1973-4 expenditures in their budgets for the fiscal year 1974-5.

"Department budgets will have to absorb inflation," Kaufmann said. He added that because there will be the usual rise in salaries for next year, departments must cut back on staff or services to compensate.

"The reason we're doing this is that we are on thin financial ice," Kaufmann said. He said he felt, however, that students will not feel the effects of the cuts.

Million-Dollar Deficit

Harvard faces a $1 million deficit in the 1973-4 budget which the administration would like to eliminate immediately, Kaufmann said. He added that Harvard is facing increasing pressure from graduate students over financial aid.

Another problem, Kaufmann said, is that Harvard's total income for fiscal 1974-5 is expected to rise only 5 per cent, while the national inflation rate is six per cent.

Referring to the rise in tuition, Kaufmann said, "If student costs grow by six per cent, or $300, our charges reflect the six per cent change in national income levels. We would not change our position statistically vis-a-vis anybody with this rise," he said.

Kaufmann said he was worried about the possible crunch on middle class members of the Harvard community. "There could be a bipolarity, with rich students and those on full scholarships," he said.

L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of admissions and financial aid, said yesterday that he "will try to expand financial aid at the upper end" to compensate for inflation. "We don't want to be priced out of the market," he said.

Scared Away

Jewett said that the Admissions Office plans to make up a booklet which would notify prospective students of financial aid opportunities. "We must contact them before they are scared away by the high tuition," he said.

Comparable schools like Yale and Penn have planned similar rises in tuition, Jewett added. He said he feared that Harvard will face increased competition from good state universities.

Kaufmann, speaking of Rosovsky's request to the departments, said, "This is a one year circumstance that will let us get our financial legs back under us." He added that Rosovsky does not expect strict compliance with his request.

Rosovsky plans to exercise his power of Faculty appointment to help cut costs, Kaufmann said. Requests for additional junior faculty may be denied more often, he said.

Encouragement

Kaufmann said that a possible shortage of assistant professors could be solved by encouraging tenured Faculty in less hard-pressed departments to teach courses in other areas. He cited John Finley '28, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature, as an example. Finley teaches the popular course Humanities 3, "The Rise of the Greek Classics."

Each department's situation will be considered independently and decisions will be based on recommendations from the department in question, Kaufmann said.