NewsPress Release - 11/2/99

MARLBORO, VT - Countering a national trend, Marlboro College will not increase tuition for 2000-2001 -- the second year in a row. Last year, the small liberal arts college in the hills of southern Vermont actually reduced tuition by $1,500.

According to a survey published last month by The College Board, national trends show that the average tuition for private four-year colleges increased by 4.6 percent in 1999-2000, more than twice the rate of inflation.

"We have a commitment to keeping a Marlboro education affordable for the majority of families," says President Paul LeBlanc. "The decision to hold the tuition rate also comes on the heels of an anonymous $12 million gift to the College that will increase the value of that education even more."

Besides freezing tuition, Marlboro's Board of Trustees also voted to keep room and board fees at the same level for the third consecutive year. At peer colleges throughout New England, room and board fees are up 3.5 percent. Marlboro's tuition is $18,800 and its room and board fees are $6,750.

According to Director of Financial Aid Julie Richardson, "Over the past five years, Marlboro's tuition has increased only 3.3 percent, while four-year private colleges nationwide have soared 31.4 percent -- ten times Marlboro's rate. Our new cost structure -- combined with increases in the number of merit-based scholarships, adherence to need-blind admissions, and more money devoted to direct student aid -- keeps Marlboro College affordable to a wide range of students and their families. They will pay less, and we will strengthen our student body academically."

This news comes on top of the College's recent announcement of a $12 million gift -- the largest single contribution ever made to a Vermont college -- that will be used to expand student opportunity, enhance academic programs, add a wing to the College's Rice Library, and inspire a major endowment campaign.

The pledge is in addition to a three-year, $3.5 million campus renovation and renewal program that is in progress. The program -- the most comprehensive campus renewal program in the College's 53-year history -- includes a new waste disposal and treatment system and new student housing, classrooms, and faculty and administrative offices.