Tuition, financial aid packages increase

The University’s undergraduate term bill for 1999-2000, which includes tuition, room and board and student fees, will increase 3.8 percent to $32,069. Tuition will increase 4 percent to $23,820, and room and board charges, which were frozen last year, will increase by 3 percent to $7,835. At the same time, the University’s contribution to undergraduate financial aid packages is projected to grow by 5.3 percent to $35.3 million.

The University will also enhance its policy on aid packages. In years past, the University’s scholarship aid to a student was reduced by a portion of any scholarship aid received from non-University sources. Next year, for the first time, most students will see such outside aid reduce instead the amount of money they need to earn or borrow.

Also continuing is the University’s long-standing policy of accepting the most qualified candidates without regard to their financial need and providing the financial assistance to meet those needs.

“Education at the University is distinctive because it is based on several vital principles,” said President Sonnenschein. “We provide a rigorous program of general education combined with unsurpassed opportunities to partake of the resources in one of the world’s leading research universities. Combined with a large selection of small classes taught by a distinguished faculty, these produce an educational experience that I believe is unmatched.”

Of the courses offered each year to undergraduate students, 63 percent have fewer than 20 students per class.

The University is also creating several new programs, including second-language acquisition opportunities and research and professional internships. The new second-language opportunities include international summer research fellowships, which enable students to concentrate on their field of study as well as on developing proficiency in a second language. The internships will be offered at Argonne National Laboratory, the Smithsonian Institution, the Federal Reserve Banking System, the Steppenwolf Theater and Goldman Sachs.

Also being expanded next year are foreign branches of the College’s Western Civilization and Latin Civilization courses, in which students immerse themselves in history, culture and language while studying with University faculty in Rome, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Tours, France; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The involvement of University faculty ensures the highest standards of teaching.

The University also is developing an African Civilization program to be taught in Dakar, Senegal, and one or more Eastern Asian Civilization programs. The Asian locations are yet to be determined.