Annual Costs to Exceed $86,000, Increase at Double the Normal Rate

As students come to campus in the fall, they will have paid more for their year of education than students at Yale, Harvard, and Penn. For the 2023-24 year, Haverford will cost $86,540 for the 2023-24 year, up 6.4% from last year’s total cost of $81,330. This 6.4% increase is about double the school’s normal rate of 3-4%, and is higher than peer liberal arts colleges like Williams and Swarthmore, who both increased by 5%. 

Although for the past 13 years Haverford’s costs have not exceeded 4% growth, staying between 3-4%. 

The bill includes $67,522 in tuition, marking a 7% increase from $62,850 the previous year. Room and Board will be $18,520 next year, marking a 3 % increase from the previous year, and the student activity fee will remain unchanged at $498.  

“We’re consistently over-enrolling, there’s a housing crisis, laundry machines don’t work, apartments are mice-filled, Gum(mere) is structurally unsound. The administration is not responsive to the needs of students and when they ask for more money how do they expect students or even students’ parents to be happy with that because it’s for what?” asks Willy Aguilar-Montenegro ’25. 

The College disputes that the school has over-enrolled, saying that enrollment has only grown.

The Board of Managers approved the increase just three weeks ago in mid-April. Students, faculty, and staff were notified of the approval in an email sent last Friday, May 5. 

Nico Washington, the Vice President for Finance and Administration explains that the tuition hike is caused “in part by inflation of course but it’s also part of supporting our core infrastructure.”

“The likelihood is all employees will receive an increase,” Washington states. 

The College has justified the increase by giving all employees the opportunity to earn a raise.  

She breaks down the raise even more, saying “We allocate 4.25% of that as merit, so employees are entitled to a 4.25% merit pool and .75% is tied to supplemental adjustments that may be equity adjustments based on market competitiveness, adjustments to new recruitments where salaries may have changed from when the position was originally filled to when that position is now being marketed.”  

According to Washington, “merit” is determined by managers’ progress reports on a departmental basis.

Although overall costs will increase, that will not necessarily mean that students on financial aid will be paying more. 

Jess Lord, Vice President of Admission and Financial Aid, says “The increase in tuition by and large isn’t having an impact on students on financial aid because we meet full demonstrated need. The amount of money we believe a family can pay does not change regardless of how much tuition is.”

“One of the things in the budget for next year is an increased discount rate,” says Lord. The discount rate is the percent of the cost of attendance that is covered by financial aid. Last year Haverford’s discount rate was 78.9%, this means that the average financial aid package was $64,193. 

The College’s current financial aid policy will not change with next year’s tuition. Currently the College meets a student’s full demonstrated need and does not include loans as part of financial aid for students whose family income is under $60,000 to have a loan. For those that have loans as part of their financial aid package, they range from $1,500 to $3,000 per year. 

The College does not have a blanket policy that students whose families earn less than a certain income will not have to pay for Haverford costs. Instead, the College looks at a range of factors, such as a student’s family’s assets and savings to determine the amount they should contribute. 

Facilities will also have an increased budget for next year. The school has allocated $6.1 million for facilities renewal next year, and allocated $5.8 million for this year, which marks a 5.2% increase, according to numbers provided by Washington. Haverford plans to renovate multiple dorms in the coming years, including Barclay, the oldest dorm on campus, Lloyd, and Leeds, according to the Strategic Plan. 

“With aging facilities, there’s costs associated with that so to keep pace with that we’ve allocated a portion of the budget to support our facilities’ needs,” says Washington. 

The Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) also received more financial support. “We are bringing in additional staffing, full-time positions in CAPS as well as operating resources,” Washington shares. 

Students have been advocating for the expansion of on-campus mental health services for years. This past fall Active Minds, a club advocating for increased awareness of mental health resources, passed a plenary resolution to expand CAPS funding and resources. In 2019, Dean Kelly Wilcox and students were advocating for increased mental health resources. And in 2016 The Clerk published a series evaluating the role of CAPS and mental health on campus.

Despite being one of the most expensive schools in the country, the majority of Fords often pay full price. Last year only 42% of students were awarded financial aid and in 2021-22 47% received some form of financial aid, according to the school’s Common Data Set and financial aid website.

Despite the College’s increased financial aid efforts, many students still feel burdened by the high cost of education.

“A huge part of what stresses me out at Haverford is because tuition is so high,” says Jocelyn Gao ’26. “My parents are paying so much money and it’s so much pressure that l feel like l can’t have the full liberal arts experience.”

This article has been edited to include the College’s views on over-enrollment, discount rate, and loan policy.