Harvard Tuition Drops to Third Place

Harvard, which last year was the most expensive college in the nation, will drop to third place this fall, according to a study recently released by the College Board.

The total cost of the 1983-84 school year at MIT will leap 10.8 percent to $15,130, replacing Harvard as the most expensive college, followed by Bennington College, up 9.5 percent to $14,910, and Harvard up 7.8 percent to $14,700.

Harvard's tuition increase--announced last February--is the lowest since 1979, when it went up 8.5 percent. During the past three years, tuition at the College increased 12.7, 15, and 14.8 percent respectively.

Last year, total undergraduate costs, which included tuition and fees, room and board, transportation and personal expenses, totalled $13,550 at Harvard, trailed closely by MIT at $13,500 and Bennington College at $13,490.

Average costs at both public and private colleges across the nation will increase by 10 percent this fall. Kathleen Brouder, associate director of the College Scholarship Service, said yesterday. Brouder added that "this year many colleges are still playing 'catch-up'" with the inflation rates of the '70s.

Broader explained that for the first time in several years, cost percentage hikes at private colleges last year surpassed inflation. During the decades preceding the 1982-1983 academic year most colleges managed to keep percentage increases below inflation, she added.

Higher than Inflation

Next year, however, increases at all colleges--public and private--will probably outstrip inflation, Brouder said.

Following Harvard in the list of most expensive colleges comes Yale at $14,500; Princeton at $14,445; Tufts at $14.183; Brown at $14,145; Sarah Lawrence at $14,105; Dartmouth at $14,093; and Stanford at $14,039.