The tentative room and board rates for the 2005-2006 academic year show price hikes that average out to around four percent. Though the Board of Trustees does not meet until next weekend to approve the budget for the next fiscal year, Residence Life has released the tentative prices for on-campus rooms as well as dining plans since the squatting process begins this week.
This is the first far-reaching price increase to the room and board plans in three years. In 2003, only the prices of the apartments in Crockett, Bray, and Cary Halls increased, with all other room and board rates remaining the same.
Pete Snyder, director of Residence Life, said via e-mail, “At this point, I am unable to discuss the pending rates,” since the rates have yet to be approved by the Trustees. He did point out, though, “Various options for overall Cost of Attendance have been presented to the President, but there has been no overall final approval.”
John Fusco, resident district manager for Hospitality Services at Rensselaer, said that dining services does not have the final control over setting board plan prices and that the prices are determined by RPI. The director of Auxiliary Services was not able to be reached for comment.
The increases in the dining plan are fairly uniform—all plans will see a price increase of about four percent. The increases to room rates, however, are more varied. For example, the increase in price for single rooms in the Crockett, Bray, and Cary Hall apartments is less than one percent, while doubles in North Hall will see an increase of about 6.8 percent. The average increase in prices, not taking into account the relative frequencies of each type of room, indicates that the average increase to the room rates was also around four percent.
The last time prices were increased across the board was in 2002, between the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 academic years. The increases that year also averaged around four percent. The hikes in the meal plans that year were about 4.5 percent.
Students living on campus were not happy to hear about the increases. Adrienne Peltz ’07 said, “I think ResLife and Sodexho do an excellent job, but I’m not sure that that justifies such an increase…we’re already paying so much.”
Tom Zink ’06, who is not on a dining plan, echoed a similar sentiment, “The meal plans were overpriced before [this] hike.”
According to the College Board’s annual publication entitled Trends in College Pricing 2004, the average cost incurred for room and board by a student at a four year private institution during the 2004-2005 academic year is $7,434. This amount is 4.6 percent above the average cost from the prior year, $7,107.
The publication states, “These are enrollment-weighted averages, intended to reflect the average costs that full-time undergraduate students face in various types of institutions… room and board charges are weighted by the number of students residing on campus or off campus.”
