Mirror - Vol. 29, No. 24 - April 08, 2004

              April 8, 2004 - Vol. 29, Iss. 24
TUITION INCREASES THROUGH THE YEARS
With the latest raise, Fairfield has seen tuition rise over 300% in less than 20 years:
>JU,UUU
'Students in the
class of 2007
and later pay s*i
approximately S''
$25,000 $500 more. ^^5,650*
/^4,1Q0
v ^^22,430
$20,000
^^1,000
~-~-"'J"l9,560
«p _^--n8,800
tj ^^^-^17,900
5, „^-"l7l000
o $15,000
•43
^^^6,000
_^-^W,000
-^-^14,250 £ ^^13,450
^^--^12,350
.^*11,250
$10,000 ">-^10,000
9,100
$5,000 -
$0 I 1 I I ! I I I I I t I I I 1 t
7.45T
88-89 90-91 92-93 94-95 96-97 98-99 00-01
Fiscal year (coincides with school year)
02-03 04-05
Sources: The Mirror archives; Fairfield University . -j O'Connell/The Mirror
Cost of a year at Fairfield: $37,200
BY ETHAN FRY
The cost for an incoming
freshman to attend Fairfield
University next year is roughly
equal to that of a 2004 Audi A4
convertible with heated front
seats, six disc CD changer and
XM satellite radio.
Tuition for a full-time stu-dent
including room and board
will be $37,200.
Juniors and seniors will pay
about $36,720 depending on which
type of housing they choose.
This is because of the univer-sity's
decision last year to adopt a
two-tiered tuition system.
As The Mirror reported last
week, tuition will increase 7 per-cent
next year. Including room
and board, the increase in total
cost of attendance is 6.1 percent.
"I know that every college
increases its tuition almost yearly,
but it would be helpful to the stu-dents
if we could see where this
money was going," said Liz Casey
'07. "Then maybe I wouldn't be
as annoyed by it."
The university gave students
a brief overview of the budget and
the budget process Tuesday at 3:
30 p.m. in the campus center, but
LUCAS KELLEY
only nine students were present.
During the presentation, Rev.
Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., the presi-dent
of Fairfield University, em-phasized
the problems that come
with the budgetary process.
"A university budget is ex-tremely
difficult to put together,"
Kelley said. "There are a lot of
needs and never sufficient re-sources
to meet them all."
William Lucas, vice presi-dent
of finance for the university,
said the budget committee, which
gives Kelley a budget to present
to the Board of Trustees, spent a
lot of time discussing the tuition
increase.
"The committee spends as
much time discussing [the tuition
increase] as anything else," Lucas
said. "It's a balancing act, taking
into account many factors."
SEE "FAIRFIELD'S" ON P. 6
EDITORIAL: School can't rely solely on tuition hikes to survive — Page 15
Financial aid
increased
with tuition
BY ASHLEIGH EGAN
With tuition at Fairfield rising
7 percent next year from $25,560
to $27,450, many students will
be forced to rely more heavily
on financial aid to continue their
education.
The amount of financial aid
was increased in order to keep
pace with the tuition increase,
according to Erin Chiaro, interim
director of financial aid. The finan-cial
aid budget is part of the total
budget which includes the tuition
increase.
"The institutional commit-ment
to financial aid is strong and
that the impact of tuition increases
on financial aid is always consid-ered
by the budget committee,"
said Chiaro.
Although financial aid will
be increasing along with tuition,
this may not be enough for some
students.
"It seems like circular logic
to me," said Pat McHugh '06.
"Tuition increases, so financial
aid increases, so to get the money
for more financial aid tuition is
raised again."
For the 2003-2004 academic
year, $21,174,784 was given out
in institutional aid, according to
Chiaro. This amount breaks down
into $6,313,690 in merit aid and
$15,043,094 in need-based aid.
Chiaro said that the institution-al
need-based aid is awarded to full-time
day undergraduate students
that have demonstrated need. The
merit scholar recipients are selected
by the office of admission.
SEE "FIFTH" ON P. 6
Cokie Roberts announced as commencement speaker
BY MIKE THEILE
Cokie Roberts, a former ABC News
political commentator who now works for
National Public Radio, will be the speaker at
Fairfield University's 54th commencement
on Sunday, May 23.
"Cokie Roberts is an especially good
and appropriate commencement speaker,"
said Frank Marx '04. "She will be able to
offer a unique and well-respected outlook
of the state of our world today."
Roberts covered congress, politics and
public policy for ABC for 15 years. From
1996 to 2002, she and Sam Donald-son
co-anchored the weekly ABC
interview program "This Week."
She currently serves as senior news
analyst for NPR.
"I am ecstatic to have Cokie
Roberts coming here," said Rev.
Charles H. Allen, S.J., executive
assistant to President Aloysius
P. Kelley S.J. "We are living in
ROBERTS
Kelley and the board of trustees
are usually in charge of the process
of choosing a commencement
speaker, according to Allen.
"Speakers are usually chosen
based on who is willing to come,"
said Allen. "If someone here at
the university knows someone
who they think would be a good
speaker, they will try to get them
troubled times right now, and to bring in a to come. It's about having the connections
well-known and highly respected political because getting people is not easy."
commentator in and get their insight on the Kelley had the connection to Roberts and
political scene is great." is the one who knows her best, Allen added.
So far students have mixed reactions to
Roberts' awaited arrival.
"I think that she is an interesting
choice during such a controversial elec-tion
year," said Erin Maier '04. "But I
hope that her speech is more focused on
insight to her life experiences than political
commentary."
"I'd rather not have someone political
as a speaker," said Kristen Keleher '04. "I
feel I am going to drift away off into space
during her speech."
SEE "STUDENT" ON P. 4