George Washington Hikes Tuition by 25.5 Percent

WASHINGTON--George Washington (GW) University, which has prided itself for its comparitively low tuition rates, last month announced a 25.5 percent like, which amounts to a $1250 increase for undergraduates. The GW Hatchet, the campus newspaper, reported recently.

The tuition increase, if the Board of Trustees approves it unchanged in January, would be the largest in the history of the University.

William D. Johnson, GW's director of planning and budgeting, said a $3.6 million deficit incurred by the University last year and a predicted $1.75 million deficit for this year fueled the tuition increases, adding that falling students enrollment and increases in salaries and program areas also contributed.

Tuition for full-time students in Columbian College, the undergraduate school, will jump from $5900 to $6150, and students at the School of Education and Human Development, the School of Government and Business Administration and the School of Public and International Affairs will also be paying 25.5 percent more next year.

According to GW's proposed budget for 1983-84, the university is counting on pulling in about $11.9 million in student tuition for the fiscal year. Johnson said the $11.9 million figure includes a projected 3.6 percent decline in student enrollment for next year, a percent that Johnson said was a "blue skies kind of thing GW experienced an unexpected 5.1 percent enrollment drop this fall.

Johnson added that if a larger enrollment decline was figured into the budget, the level of the student tuition would-have been higher. "The fewer students we project next fall, the higher the tuition rate will have to go."

He said he does not know what effect the large tuition increases will have on students enrollment next year, adding that last year's 19.5 percent average tuition increase may have been a factor in this year's enrollment drop-off.

The tuition increase figures were released along with the university's 1983-84 budget, not including figures for GW's Medical Center or Medical School, which will be released at a later date.

The budget, which totals slightly more than $126 million, includes provisions for an 8 percent increase in faculty and staff salaries, which were increased by 10 percent for this fiscal year, In addition, fringe benefits will be increased 17 percent of the level of salary and wage increases.

Student financial aid will be increased proportionally will the tuition increases under the proposed budget.