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The money is invested in areas such as campus technology and activities, services and improvements, scholarships, and faculty. According to Michelle Hegarty, associate vice president of finance, faculty is the leading increasing expense. Adding new faculty and keeping salaries competitive with other universities is expensive.

Scholarships are the other main expenditure. Last year, the total tuition revenue from students was $42 million. Of that money, $16 million -37 percent- came from Hamline University need- and merit-based scholarships. The financial aid most students received from Hamline came, at least in part, from the raises in tuition that people have paid in years past.

The Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC) represents 17 of the best private four-year colleges and universities in the state. If someone were to look at a chart comparing all of the tuitions of these 17 colleges since the 1996-1997 school year, some of the information found might come as a surprise. Since the ’96-’97 school year, Hamline’s tuition has increased 63 percent. That sounds like a lot, and even looking at the raw numbers it is pretty steep, from $14,344 to $23,375, which is a $9,000 increase. But looking at the chart and comparing our numbers to those of other schools, Hamline students don’t have it so bad.

Concordia College in St. Paul had an 87.7 percent increase, the Minnesota College of Art and Design (MCAD), the College St. Scholastica, and St. Thomas University each had a 69 percent increase, and Concordia Moorhead and St. Olaf both had a 68 percent increase. If Hamline had followed the average yearly increases of the MPCC schools, tuition would be $900 more expensive per year.

According to MPCC’s website, mnprivatecolleges.org, there are seven schools in the MPCC whose total cost of attendance, including room and board, is greater than Hamline’s for the 2005-06 school year. Hamline’s total cost of attendance is just over $300 more than the average of all the MPCC schools.

There are other factors to consider as well. Nelson said that the increase rate for returning students is considerably lower. Between the 2004-05 school year and the 2005-06 school year, the increase in tuition costs was only 4 percent, compared to 6 percent for new students. Since the 2000-2001 school year, increases have been as much as 8.7 percent for new students, but have never been higher than 5 percent for returning students. This encourages student retention for the school, and gives students who stick with Hamline a small break financially.

The administration will be sending out an all-school e-mail the week of March 12 with all the exact numbers regarding tuition and costs for next year. This will include how much it has increased from last year, and the exact charge for each graduating class.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions regarding where money is going and how it is being put to use, contact your HUSC representative or make an appointment with an administrator. Inflation and growing prices are inevitable, but Hamline University has, and can only, continue to benefit from the increasing revenue.