Undergraduate students paid $27,100 for tuition this academic year. Where does this money go?
“Student enrollment and tuition is Whitworth's primary revenue source,” said Brian Benzel, vice president for finance and administration.
He said endowments and fees for auxiliary services such as food and the bookstore provide significant other resources, but nowhere near as much as student tuition.
“Our net budget after we acknowledge the reductions in charges with Whitworth provided financial aid is $52,776,900 for this year," Benzel said. "We provide over $20 million in financial aid."
The money is allocated through an annual budget adopted by the Board of Trustees. Next year’s budget will be voted on in April.
According to the current budget, the largest amount goes to instruction, with about 27 percent going to pay professors’ salaries, materials, supplies and instructional equipment.
The next highest amount ranks in at about 16 percent for faculty and staff benefits, including social security costs, workers compensation, and health and dental benefits.
The rest is divided up between academic support (which includes the cost of maintaining the Harriet Cheney Cowles Memorial Library), student services, general support (such as administration and advancement), operations and maintenance, debt service, auxiliary services such as Sodexo, residence halls and the bookstore, and public service/miscellaneous.
"Miscellaneous includes fees, fines, interest income, gate receipts, revenue from the sale of equipment that is fully depreciated and the like," Benzel said.
Contact Ira McIntosh at ira.mcintosh@whitworthian.com.
The Whitworthian > Special Features > Cost of College
Tuition accounts for most of university's revenue
Published: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 22:03
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