Comprehensive Fee up 3.75% to $74,350 for 2019-20

Ben Gambuzza ’20
Contributing Writer
It’s that time of year again.
Trinity’s comprehensive fee for the 2019-20 academic year will be $74,350, according to an email sent by President Berger-Sweeney to parents this morning. That is up from $71,710 in 2018-19, according to the school website: a 3.75% increase. This fee includes tuition, a general fee, the Student Activity Fee, room, and Meal Plan. Tuition alone is up from $56,500 to $58,620. That’s higher than Tufts’, another NESCAC school, with a 2019-20 tuition of $57,324. Tufts’ comprehensive fee is higher than Trinity’s at $76,200.
President Berger-Sweeney enumerated in her email: “We don’t make this decision lightly, and, as I’ve said before, we understand the contexts in which we and other institutions are asking families to make such significant investments. We know that fewer and fewer families can afford to pay the full comprehensive fee, and we are profoundly grateful for the generations of philanthropy that have allowed Trinity to remain one of the few institutions in the country that meet the full demonstrated financial need of admitted students.”

In her email last year regarding the 3.9% rise in tuition for 2018-19, announced in February 2018, she said: “None of us takes this decision lightly, and we understand the contexts in which we and other institutions are asking families to pay such steep costs. We know that fewer and fewer families can afford to invest so deeply in their children’s education. We are profoundly grateful to the generations of philanthropy that have allowed Trinity to remain one of the few institutions in the country that meets the full demonstrated financial need of admitted students. But we must do more. As we raise the cost of attendance (and work to limit such increases), we must simultaneously ensure and enhance the value of a Trinity education and build philanthropic support so that we may attract the most talented students from around the world and from all economic backgrounds.”

Though certainly similar in almost all respects, the President’s email this year is unclear about specific steps the College will take in the coming years to curb the rising cost of tuition.