George Washington Trustees Vote In Steep Tuition Hikes

The trustees of George Washington University (G.W) sharply increased fees when they recently approved next year's budget. Medical school tuition will go up $4000 to a total of $19,000 a year.

On the day of the vote, January 22, about 25 students protested the expected budget move of the trustees by demonstrating outside of the building where the trustees were meeting. The students, carrying signs saying. "Raise Hell Not Tuition," and other slogans, were from the G.W. Progressive Student Union, the Black People's Union and other campus groups.

Next year, the tuition for undergraduate studies will rise by 19.5 to 25 percent, depending on the particular program, while law school students face a 17.3 percent hike, Robert Shoup, assistant director of G.W.'s office of planning and budgeting, said yesterday.

Medical school students are the hardest hit, with tuition--which was the second highest the nation this year at $15,000--rising 26.7 percent, Shoup added.

Shoup said continuing inflation and the state of the economy played an important role in the tuition hike, but he added that recent construction costs also contributed heavily G.W. must repay a $30 million loan to the District of Columbia for a new building, and G.W. faces $900,000-a-year maintenance expenses when the building opens in July.

The law school, engineering school and medical center--which includes the hospital and medical school--are also incurring increasing costs as they refurbish and renovate Moreover, tuition is the major source of money for the medical school because of lack of endowment, said L. Thompson Bowles, dean of the med school.

James K. Wong, vice president of the Student Association, said yesterday that students will try to influence the budget-making process on a departmental level. The heads of departments initiate the process when they submit their requests to the president of G.W. and these administrators will become the targets of the student campaign, Wong added.