&”Tuition increase of 6.5 % projected”
That was the headline of last week’s Guilfordian. It is more than enough to panic students.
However, the budget committee has to look to the future of the college. We, the student body, should do all we can to support them.
A college is an expensive proposition. Students are not cheap, especially when everyone thinks about what they have broken on this campus. Housing, buildings, electrical and gas – everything costs money.
It costs between 44 and 45 million each dollars year to fund Guilford. The school is drawing far too much from the endowment, which is only about $50 million. Last year the school took 11 percent from it – and 20 percent in 2001. Guilford can’t afford to do that every year; they would go broke very quickly.
Recently students have raised concern. The number one question is why the new budget includes a tuition hike. The answer: Guilford’s expenses this year are expected to be $45 million. As of this year we made around $44 million. When all the figures come out, we are short $1.7 million.
The budget committee has to find a way to cover that loss. The committee asked President Chabotar and the vice-presidents to cut their costs by $400,000. That makes the deficit $1.3 million. The college will draw on the endowment a little more and then make the rest up by increasing the student population and tuition.
Complaints arose at the budget meeting concerning CCE students’ tuition. It’s very simple; they don’t use as many resources as traditional students. People also complain about not getting into classes, and no matter what the CCE population is, you will not always get into the classes you want. Guilford also can’t afford to charge too much for CCE students because they will go elsewhere to similar programs that are cheaper.
Other concerns involve administration spending.
Varsity sports. Guilford is adding some new varsity sports. Cross-country and swimming are not sports that require a whole lot of excessive funding. Guilford is behind its competitor schools in the number of varsity sports offered. These new sports represent a pathetic fraction of the budget since we already posses the facilities necessary.
Founders Renovation. The $1 million that is earmarked for Founder’s renovation was donated for that specific project, not to be used anywhere else. As for other renovations they are planned into the budget: each year the college renovates a dorm, this is a needed piece of spending that is always figured into the budget. The renovations of buildings like Duke are also desperately needed, or else we might suffer from other Leak rooms around campus.
Larger Faculty. We need more teachers. Part of the budget plan is to accept more traditional and CCE students. There are always complaints about not getting into classes, too many students in classes and so forth. A great deal of these problems can be reduced, if not eliminated, by more tenure – track faculty. This is a school and a school cannot run without a well – paid and well – respected faculty.
Rather than raising our voice in anger or just regret over the raised tuition, why don’t we, the student body, find ways to raise $1.7 million? Guilford does a lot for each student on its campus; is it so difficult for us to attempt to raise money? Let’s not complain, but instead help the administration that does so much to help us.Guilford’s budget
Total revenues from tuition and endowment/donations = $45,000,000
75 % from tuition
25 % from endowment/donations

Total expenses deducted from the $45 million:
-$8.2 for facilities
-$2.1 for President’s budget (including IT&S)
-$12.2 for academics
-$3.3 for campus life (Clubs on campus)
-$1.1 for fundraising
-$19.8 combination of all other college expenses
= -$1,700,000

Keep in mind that tuition is about $21,000 without any assistance at all and most Guilford students get assistance.