Smith Announces 2000-2001 Fees

At its February meeting, the Smith College Board of Trustees approved a comprehensive fee of $31,744, an increase of 4.3 percent over the current year.

The comprehensive fee incorporates tuition ($23,400), room and board ($8,160) and a student activities free ($184).

In a letter to parents and students announcing the new fees, Smith College President Ruth J. Simmons noted that the subsidy provided to every student by the college's endowment, annual fund, and operating budget means that a student's comprehensive fee actually covers only 56 percent of the real cost of her education.

"Since the completion of the college's recent self-study, we have introduced a number of new initiatives, including an innovative internship program and an engineering program, the first at a women's college," Simmons said. "Our extensive planning process enables us to balance fiscal stability with expenditures that support these initiatives and other exciting new programs and projects that are in the works."

Simmons also noted that, in recent years, Smith's fee increases have been consistently lower than those of similar colleges. "As a result, our comprehensive fee is one of the lowest among our peer institutions."

March 20, 2000