• AFFORDABILITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION
• COLUMBIA'S COMMITMENT TO AFFORDABILITY
AFFORDABILITY
LETTER TO LEGISLATURE 0% INCREASE IN TUITION
MARCH, 2004
Columbia College Chicago is pleased to announce that we will hold our tuition at the 2003-04 level for the upcoming 2004-05 academic year. There will be a 0% increase in tuition next fall.
We are undertaking this step in response to our concerns – and yours – about the affordability crisis in American higher education – and because a keystone of Columbia's mission has always been accessibility, both academic and economic. By holding tuition at current levels, we are demonstrating our vigorous commitment to this mission.
Despite holding the line on tuition for next year, we expect to continue our efforts to enhance academic programming, maintain facilities, sustain benefits and provide increases in salaries for the next fiscal year. Our commitment to our students, faculty and staff and to our campus environment remains proactive. By thinking creatively we found a way to address both areas of concern.
Please understand that Columbia College Chicago remains dependent upon tuition revenues. We are an open-admissions institution with a very small endowment. We are the most diverse private college in the State of Illinois. Nearly one-third of our students report household incomes of less than $36,000 a year. Our tuition is one of the lowest of any private arts and media colleges in the country. We cannot continue to underwrite escalating higher education costs without active participation by state and federal governments.
Do not mistake our decision about tuition for 2004-05: it is a one-time opportunity that we have seized in response to our students' needs and to the growing national crisis of educational affordability. Without additional government support for higher education, we are unlikely to be able to restrain tuition growth in future years.
We look forward to working in collaboration with you and your staff on issues of education and affordability this year and in the years to come.
