In keeping with what has become a prevailing trend at Yeshiva in recent years, the University's Board of Trustees voted to raise undergraduate tuition and expenses, once again, effective September 2001. Coming on the heels of last year's 8% increase, this year's surge - of 6% and 9%, for returning and incoming students, respectively - has ensured that overall expenses for incoming students will have swelled by almost 18% in the past two years alone.

Strangely, few University administrators were willing to comment on the fact that Yeshiva had increased student expenses by almost one-fifth over a two-year period during which economic inflation rose less than 6%. Bernard Pittinski, Director of University Finances, refused to comment on the matter, as did Director of Enrollment John Fisher. Fisher, however, displayed much more creativity in his stonewalling; after begging off an interview request this past Friday on the grounds that he needed more time to gather his thoughts on the issue, Fisher "realized" Monday morning that he was not the person best positioned to answer questions concerning the increased cost of enrollment, despite his admission that he is in fact University Director of Enrollment. The surprising change has led many to speculate that a calculated Yeshiva move to remain silent on the matter has been organized.

The one administrator willing to speak with The Commentator was University Dean of Students David Himber. The increases, Himber explained, will be implemented in the forthcoming academic year and will vary depending on students' year of enrollment. Students who initially enrolled prior to the 2000-2001 year will see their bills rise from $22,430 to $23,830 per academic year. But students enrolling for the first time this Fall, as well as students who originally enrolled at the outset of the current academic year - who have already been paying $22,830 pursuant to last year's increase - will be confronted with costs totaling some $24,930.

In explaining the impetus for the increases in tuition, Himber cited a number of rising expenses that the University has faced, which - he alleged - necessitated the tuition increase if Yeshiva wished to maintain and improve upon its position among the top fifty colleges in the nation; most prominent stood the creation of the Yeshiva Ethernet network, maintenance of the uptown dorm facilities and classrooms, and general salary increases. Himber's assertion regarding the Ethernet seems to run contrary to a declaration by a senior Yeshiva administrator who, at a Student Life Committee meeting last year, guaranteed that money "had been found" for the project and that students would not be charged for the adoption of the network.

Himber's reference to dormitory maintenance as a rising cost also raises some questions. According to Commentator sources, much of the expense associated with dormitory upkeep and maintenance is covered by the interest generated by the building's original endowment. And although it has not yet been officially confirmed, The Commentator could unearth no information regarding a proposed 18% pay raise for Yeshiva's faculty and staff. When asked whether any specific initiatives, other than facilities maintenance, would be implemented to actually improve student life, Himber could point to no such incipient program or project.

Himber was quick to note that the escalation in student expenses would be accompanied by concomitant augmentation of financial aid programs for incoming students, and he averred that "money had been set aside for this purpose," while reiterating the University's oft-expressed commitment to "turn no student away due to financial concerns." Interestingly, according to the very standard invoked by Himber to justify the tuition increase - the annual U.S. News and World Report rankings - Yeshiva seems to fall somewhat short of its stated ambition regarding financial aid. According to the magazine, the portion of "students whose [financial] need was fully met" at Yeshiva was a paltry 27%. The two other schools with which Yeshiva shared its #45 ranking - the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Washington - tallied scores of 40% and 60%, respectively. The University of Texas at Austin, the school ranked lowest among the nation's top fifty schools, boasted a score of 91%, and no Ivy League school scored less than 98% in this category.

In all, Yeshiva's justification of the stratospheric increase in student expenses over the past two years has once again raised questions among concerned students and parents. Administrative failure to identify material benefits for the extra 18% they will be paying, coupled with the absence of concrete measures taken to ensure that Yeshiva is committed to helping more than 27% of their students to meet their ever-growing financial obligations has elicited a less-than-warm reception for the announced hike.