Room And Board

Tuition and fees for American college and university students will increase by an average of 5 to 8 percent in 1987-88, and campus room and board will jump 4 to 6 percent, the College Board reported in a nationwide survey released today. Students at four-year public colleges and universities will be paying an average of $1,359 in tuition and fees during the coming academic year, while those at four-year private schools will pay an average of $7,110. For community colleges and other two-year public schools, such as technical and trade schools, tuition and fees will average $687 during the coming academic year.

When he attended Haverford College more than 50 years ago, John Whitehead received a scholarship from the school to help cover the cost. Since that time, he has more than paid Haverford back, in time and money. Not only has Whitehead served on the Board of Managers for 30 years, but he also has endowed a professorship in humanities and established a fund for faculty development, all part of $6 million that he has donated over the years. His latest gift, though, is his grandest.

They pay for over-the-counter drugs. If they're not really sick, they're docked for the cost of seeing a doctor. And under a proposal presented yesterday by acting Warden John Masters, inmates at the Chester County Prison may be charged $2 a day for room and board. That charge would be the final step in what officials are calling a financial responsibility program, designed to teach inmates that even in jail, life is not a free lunch. The idea of charging inmates room and board is gaining ground among members of the county's Prison Board, which would have to authorize such a plan.

A tuition increase of 9 percent was approved by Rowan University's board of trustees yesterday. A full-time, in-state student will pay $5,396 in tuition for 2003-04, up from $4,950 last school year. The trustees also approved a 9 percent increase in other fees and an 8 percent increase in housing charges. In total, the costs for a student living on campus will rise from $13,404 to $14,396, or 7.4 percent. The action came a week after the legislature adopted a budget that reinstated $49 million of a proposed $100 million cut in aid to state colleges and universities.

In Fishtown, "politically correct language" isn't the rule, and they tend to cling to outdated notions - like taking care of neighbors. So the 143-year-old, community-run, non-profit home for elderly women is still officially known as the William Penn Asylum for Indigent Widows and Single Women. And the residents are still universally referred to as "the ladies. " As it has for decades, the all-female Board of Managers still meets every week to eat lunch at the home, visit the ladies, and discuss business.

Jenny Guo flexes her hands and slides onto a piano bench. Seated before the instrument she has played since age 6, the 19-year-old Camden Catholic High School senior feels at home. This is good, considering she is nearly 7,500 miles from Shanghai, China, the city she has called home since birth. Guo currently lives and studies at Camden Catholic as part of the school's new international-student boarding program. She lives with 18 Chinese and Korean students in Nazareth House, a three-story building next to Camden Catholic once used for student or staff retreats.

The Glassboro State College Board of Trustees yesterday approved a tuition increase of $5 per credit hour, or an average of $150 per semester, effective at the beginning of the 1987-88 school year. This is the first year the trustees have been able to raise tuition without state approval. A state autonomy law that took effect this year empowers colleges to raise tuition; formerly, that power belonged solely to the state. Costs to attend the college, including room and board, will rise from about $4,885 to about $5,135.

Students attending colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area next year will be faced with tuition increases as high as 19.3 percent, according to an informal Inquirer survey of 33 colleges. Most schools, however, will raise tuition by 7 to 8 percent this fall, more than double the rate of general inflation and about the same increase as last year. Room and board costs also are going up, as much as 5 to 7 percent, according to Katharine Hanson, executive director of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, based in Boston.

The annual cost of tuition, room and board at Swarthmore College will climb above $20,000 for full-time students this fall. If, however, you're looking for something a little less expensive, tuition at Delaware County Community College will run $1,120 this year. The two schools represent the high and low prices of a college education in Delaware County. Tuition costs at the 10 major colleges in the county will increase this fall. The increases range from just over 3 percent at DCCC to more than 12 percent at Villanova University.

For the first time in four decades, Princeton University will not increase tuition next year, the trustees announced yesterday. While tuition will hold steady at $33,000, the total cost of a Princeton education - including room and board and other fees - will rise 4.2 percent in the 2007-08 school year, to $43,980. Jumps in room and board were made, a committee said, to more accurately reflect costs, which had been heavily subsidized by the university. Nationally, tuition, room and board, and fees at private four-year colleges jumped 5.7 percent to $30,367 this year, according to the College Board.

Jenny Guo flexes her hands and slides onto a piano bench. Seated before the instrument she has played since age 6, the 19-year-old Camden Catholic High School senior feels at home. This is good, considering she is nearly 7,500 miles from Shanghai, China, the city she has called home since birth. Guo currently lives and studies at Camden Catholic as part of the school's new international-student boarding program. She lives with 18 Chinese and Korean students in Nazareth House, a three-story building next to Camden Catholic once used for student or staff retreats.

WASHINGTON - Every once in a while, I like to go through the leftover questions from my online discussions and address issues from readers. Following a recent discussion, one issue in particular caught my attention. It deserves a response. I had written about ways that parents who send their children to college could cut their expenses. One tip - that students live at home and commute to classes - seems to have generated a fair amount of criticism. Even one of my Washington Post colleagues, education columnist Jay Mathews, thought I was wrong to suggest this.

Bryn Mawr College got high marks in a number of areas this year from the Princeton Review, from its good food to its gay-friendly environment, but in one very important aspect of college life it's tops in the nation. For the second year in a row, the publication has rated the elite women's college on the Main Line No. 1 for "Dorms Like Palaces" - putting its prestigious seal of approval on housing that the Chronicle of Higher Education has labeled "a collegiate Gothic fantasy.

During her college application process, Amanda Bowden made the conscious decision to send her application letters to state universities in Pennsylvania. For Bowden, the choice was as much about academics as economics. Bowden isn't alone in this count. Over the last few years, the economy has affected more then just the job, housing, and auto markets. Looking for a quality education without flirting with financial ruins, high school seniors are favoring state universities, rather then higher-priced private colleges in Pennsylvania.

Temple University will increase tuition 5.9 percent for the forthcoming academic year to pay for growing costs and offset the shrinking percentage of dollars coming from the state, officials said Thursday. Most Temple undergraduates will see an annual increase of $660, to $11,834, for instate students and a hike of $1,208, to $21,662, for out-of-state students, officials said. Fees for full-time students will remain at $295 a semester. Anthony Wagner, Temple's chief financial officer, said the tuition increase reflects rising compensation-related costs for unionized employees, "stuff that we'd agreed to in collective-bargaining agreements.

Daniel "DK" Kurnick is a sophomore at Friends' Central School Now that the First Family is getting a pet, everyone wants one. But before running out to buy one, give it some thought. As a volunteer who works with live animals at the Academy of Natural Sciences, I am amazed at how many questions visitors ask about caring for their own pets - questions that should have been addressed before the acquisition of the critter. I like answering questions, but suggest you ask yourself the following before adding to your family: Where am I going to put it?

Getting an education at the University of Pennsylvania next year will cost just shy of $50,000 under a plan to be voted on today by the school's Board of Trustees. Tuition would increase 3.75 percent to $34,868 - the lowest percentage increase in 41 years, officials said. Overall, tuition, fees and average room and board costs will rise 3.8 percent to $49,986 under the plan. The proposed fees were approved yesterday afternoon by the board's budget and finance committee, which also heard a report that the university's endowment had plummeted by 19 percent or $1.2 billion to $5.1 billion as of Dec. 31. The endowment was worth $6.3 billion on June 30. University officials said that despite - and because of - the economic turmoil, they sought to keep tuition increases as low as possible.

As the season of tuition price-setting begins, Princeton University yesterday set the tone: It announced its lowest tuition and fees percentage increase since 1966. The cost of undergraduate tuition, fees, room and board for 2009-10 will rise 2.9 percent at the Ivy League institution, to $47,020 - up $1,325 from the current year. National and state education experts yesterday said that they expected to see lower than normal tuition increases at other private universities across the nation, as they try to help families floundering in a difficult economy.

David Knowlton's commentary ("Hospitals should make their safety records public," Jan. 18) concerning preventable medical errors places the onus on peer pressure and management to correct a deep-seated problem. This might work, but it would take a long time and face much resistance. Speaking as one who walked into a hospital relatively healthy and walked out with a life-threatening sternal staph infection, I know of what I speak. If hospitals were made to treat hospital-induced infections at their own expense instead of passing the bills onto Medicare or other providers, the infection rate would plummet.

For the first time in four decades, Princeton University will not increase tuition next year, the trustees announced yesterday. While tuition will hold steady at $33,000, the total cost of a Princeton education - including room and board and other fees - will rise 4.2 percent in the 2007-08 school year, to $43,980. Jumps in room and board were made, a committee said, to more accurately reflect costs, which had been heavily subsidized by the university. Nationally, tuition, room and board, and fees at private four-year colleges jumped 5.7 percent to $30,367 this year, according to the College Board.