College to freeze costs for 4 years

Merrimack College in North Andover is guaranteeing incoming freshmen this fall that tuition, room, and board costs will remain the same for the next four years.

The four-year Catholic college hopes that freezing costs at $37,700 a year for the incoming class will make it easier on families and students to plan their finances and decrease the number of students who leave the college each year because of rising tuition. Annual tuition increases over the last few years have averaged about 5 percent, and the college is grappling with what it considers a low retention rate of students.

Students admitted in following years also will be guaranteed a consistent rate of tuition, although likely at a higher rate than this fall's freshman class.

Merrimack College joins more than a dozen private colleges and universities nationwide, along with the 12 public university campuses in Illinois, that guarantee tuition rates for a specified number of years, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. The tuition guarantee is among several affordability measures adopted by higher education institutions in recent years. Elite universities such as Harvard and Princeton guarantee free tuition to students of certain family incomes, while a handful of colleges have decreased tuition.

''Families and students are struggling," said Richard Santagati, president of Merrimack College. ''As tuition goes up 4 or 5 percent, the strain on families and students is significant. Fixing costs of tuition, room, and board over the next four years takes the guesswork out of financial planning."

Last week, a study released by the research group, MassINC, showed just how much of a toll tuition is taking on students and families. A third of a family's annual income went toward paying for private college in New England during 2003 and 2004, compared to a quarter 11 years ago. Also, loans by parents under the federal PLUS loans program grew 64 percent for fourth-year students at public colleges to $12,659 and 113 percent at private colleges to $19,468 during that time.

At Merrimack, which has a student body of 2,150, Santagati said rising tuition is one of the top three reasons students leave. Eighteen percent of last year's freshmen didn't return this year, and Santagati wants that percentage to shrink to 10 percent. He has assembled a committee to examine factors contributing to the retention rate problem, but hopes the tuition guarantee will address affordability.

So far, deposits from incoming freshmen are up 10 percent compared to this time last year, but college officials say it's too soon to tell whether the increase is due to the tuition guarantee. Merrimack plans to survey freshmen in the fall about their decision to attend.

Jason Westgate, an 18-year-old senior at Andover High School, said the tuition guarantee clinched his decision to go to Merrimack. The college was always his top choice because it's close by and has a good civil engineering program, but he was weighing offers from less-expensive colleges, such as the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of New Hampshire.

''You don't want to pay a huge amount for college," Westgate said. ''It's nice to have a break on tuition."

Upperclassmen, who won't benefit from the plan, said they thought the program should be incentive to keep future students from leaving.

''I think it's a great idea," said Vita Canizaro, 20, a sophomore majoring in math. ''I know a lot of students who struggle here financially and students take any job on campus to stay."

Guaranteeing a consistent tuition rate can create big jumps in tuition costs for students who are admitted in following years. At Pace University in New York City, which adopted a tuition-guarantee program three years ago, incoming freshmen next fall are likely to pay $29,454 in tuition a year, or 19 percent more than this year's freshman class. Tuition for the first freshman class under the program locked in at $20,540 a year.

Rising costs for health insurance and fuel are behind the increase. Planning costs out over four or five years has made the university of 14,000 students ''super vigilant" about examining expenses and costs, said Pace's public information director Christopher Cory. Like Merrimack, Pace started its tuition guarantee to dissuade students from leaving school because of rising tuition.

''It sets a cap on our costs: Either you move things around in your budget or you raid your contingency fund," Cory said. ''We are hyper-aware of every little thing."

The unpredictability of rising operating costs prompted Anna Maria College in Paxton to end its tuition-guarantee program six years ago. The Catholic college had used the program to increase enrollment and improve student retention during the 1990s, but enrollment didn't suffer after the program's demise. The policy change affected only incoming students, and current students kept their locked-in tuition rate until they graduated.

''We didn't pull the rug out from under families whatsoever," said Lori A. Richardson, chief business officer, who described the tuition guarantee as merely a ''marketing tool" to improve enrollment.

The school is now focusing its efforts to improve retention rates by increasing financial aid and improving the quality of programs.

Merrimack has also focused on other areas to attract and retain students. Over the last seven years, the college has built two additional residence halls, an arts center, and a student activity center, and it has improved academic programs as well. The college has been ranked by US News & World Report as one of the best regional colleges for the last five years and has made another list by the magazine for best deals on tuition.

Some students said the college could do more to keep students from transferring by offering more activities during the year, like the college does in the spring with barbecues. Out-of-state students also said the college needs to improve its image among students who grew up nearby and treat the college more like a community college or a ''fall-back" school rather than one of the best in the region.

But students said guaranteeing a consistent tuition rate should do a lot in keeping students enrolled. Nobody, they said, likes receiving that dreaded letter from the college this time of year telling them what the tuition increase will be.

''One of my biggest problems is paying for school," said sophomore Laura DeGrandpre, 19, who is majoring in math and chemistry. ''I've been in the financial aid office since October. Tuition is a problem now and any increase would be a problem. Something I talk to my parents a lot about is whether we will be able to pay tuition if it keeps going up."