The Cornell Board of Trustees, at its regular meeting March 9 on campus, approved a tuition increase of $1,140 for undergraduate resident students in Cornell's statutory colleges for the academic year 2001-02.

"Cornell is committed to keeping tuition increases as low as possible, as well as to a policy of need-blind admission – that is, to admitting students without regard to their financial resources," said President Hunter Rawlings. "At the same time, we are committed to maintaining the excellence of the institution and to ensuring its competitive position in higher education.

"Balancing all of these goals is a complex task when financial resources are limited. This tuition increase is necessary, in part, to cover a projected shortfall of $13.1 million between the anticipated contract college costs next year and the state funding now proposed for those colleges in the budget pending before the Legislature in Albany," he said.

At the same time, appropriate adjustments are being made in Cornell's institutional student financial aid allocations to adjust for the rate increases adopted by the trustees, Rawlings said.

Provost Biddy Martin noted: "To remain competitive, Cornell must attract and retain the best faculty and staff, and to do that, we need to provide competitive compensation, in both pay and benefits. To that end, the university has embarked on a multiyear plan to improve both faculty and staff compensation. At the same time, the information revolution has put demands on our infrastructure to provide up-to-date technology across the campus for accessing information, for communication and for providing distributed learning.

"In addition, regulatory compliance in a complex research environment is increasing and requires investments in staff and training programs," Martin said. "Other high priorities for the coming year include expanded health benefits for graduate students, library acquisitions, and renovation and construction of facilities."

"In addition, regulatory compliance in a complex research environment is increasing and requires investments in staff and training programs," Martin said. "Other high priorities for the coming year include expanded health benefits for graduate students, library acquisitions, and renovation and construction of facilities."

The increase of $1,140 is slightly less than the $1,210 increase approved by the trustees in January for the endowed colleges.

Rawlings said the tuition increases will cover about 70 percent of the $13.1 million shortfall in contract college costs. The rest will come from increased payout from endowment, increased giving from alumni and friends and, as necessary, selective reductions in budgets.

Approximately $5.9 million of the increased revenue from tuition will be applied to faculty and staff compensation, he added.

In January the board approved a tuition increase of 4.9 percent for undergraduates in the endowed colleges, which set tuition at $25,970 for the 2001-02 academic year.

Statutory tuition rates:

• Undergraduate resident, $11,970, up 10.5 percent.
• Undergraduate nonresident, $22,200, up 6.2 percent.
• Graduate (non-veterinary), $13,910, up 9.5 percent.
• DVM resident, $16,540, up 7.4 percent. DVM (nonresident), $22,240, up 5.4 percent.
• Graduate (veterinary), $14,140, up 8.8 percent.