Trustees again raise tuition by 3.5 percent

Although discussion of drinking at Duke dominated most of this weekend's meeting, the Board of Trustees passed several measures at its quarterly gathering.

The Trustees passed a tuition increase, upped the financial aid expenditure, approved the botany-zoology merger and heard an update on The Campaign for Duke. They approved a 3.5 percent tuition increase, the same as last year's, bringing the annual price of a Duke education to $24,890 in Trinity College and $24,980 in the Pratt School of Engineering. Trinity seniors will pay $24,030.

Including room and board and other mandatory costs like health, recreation and student government fees, the total price of attending Trinity will be $33,017 for underclassmen. To better meet the needs of the 41 percent of students on financial aid, the Board increased this budget for fiscal year 2000-2001 to more than $31 million-an increase of 4.3 percent.

In addition to reaffirming their commitment to need-blind admission, the Trustees passed four small changes to the financial aid policy. The changes:

• give extra consideration to those students who live in areas where summer employment can be difficult to find;

• allow capping home equity considerations at three times family income;

• review situations where parents' contributions would exceed 20 percent of their income and

• consider money that parents have saved in their children's names as the parents' assets, not the children's.

The Board also approved the much-discussed merger of the botany and zoology departments. As of July 1, the two will join in a single biology department-creating one of the largest and most prominent departments at the University. Despite some initial concerns, the merger had been approved by both departments, the Academic Priorities Committee and the Academic Council. The Board issued the final stamp of approval Friday.

The campaign continues to perform exceptionally well, reported Trustee and campaign co-chair Peter Nicholas. He thanked the Trustees, who have given a total of $180 million to the campaign. He added, however, that the University still needs their help. "[$180 million] is terrific, and that number is going to have to increase obviously, maybe double, in the next three to four years," Nicholas said.