QUESTION #13: WHY DOES OUR COMPREHENSIVE FEE GO UP SO FAST? HAS IT BEEN GOING UP FASTER, MORE SLOWLY, OR THE SAME AS OUR "PEER SCHOOLS"?
Educational costs have risen more quickly than inflation over the past few years, especially as we try to keep up with technology, stay competitive on salaries, and support faculty efforts in new ways. To see why the endowment alone can't handle this, take a look at Question #9.
Ten years ago, our comprehensive fee was 88.9% of the peer mean. This year, our comprehensive fee is 89.7% of the peer mean. In the interim, from 1993 to 1998, not as a result of any intentional plan, our comprehensive fee gradually dropped to 84.5% of the peer mean and over the last 4 years, in an attempt to regain lost ground, it has risen again. Here are our tuition increases of the last 10 years:
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From the Grinnell College Fact Book, 2000-01 (page 22)
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The pool for Grinnell College-awarded scholarships and grants has also grown by a greater percentage than the increase in our comprehensive fee each of the past two years and will do so again next year. For more on financial aid, see Question #17.
