In these difficult economic times, each of the 5Cs has made efforts to determine changes in the cost of attendance and financial aid policies for the upcoming academic year. Although the colleges were affected by the financial crisis, most of them did not report drastic changes of costs and financial policies.

In February, Pomona College announced anticipated tuition and fees increases for next year. However, because of the increase in the number of students applying for financial aid, Pomona President David Oxtoby said that “we expect that increased demand for financial aid will keep any net increase in tuition income modest at best.”

Pomona’s Office of Financial Aid stated that combined tuition and fees will increase from $35,625 in 2008-2009 to $37,017 for the 2009-2010 school year. Room and board will increase from $12,220 to $12,651. According to Director of Financial Aid Mary Booker, tuition has increased every year for the past ten years. She noted that this recent increase has not led to a significant change in the number of financial aid applicants.

The only reported change to financial aid is to the work-study budget. Students not on work-study will receive smaller allotments. Students on work-study will receive a similarly sized allotment, but there will be no guarantee that the office will be able to augment it upon request. “Students will be asked to honor that allotment,” Booker said.

Claremont McKenna College reported an increase in the total cost of attendance by 4.1 percent. According to Director of Financial Aid Georgette DeVeres, the percentage increase this year is slightly lower than the typical average of five percent in previous years.

DeVeres said that CMC received the same percentage of financial aid applicants. However, DeVeres stated that it is still early to determine definite trends in an ongoing process of applications and appeals.

The Scripps Board of Trustees approved a 2.2 percent increase of tuition and fees, down from 5.68 percent last year. According to a letter sent to parents by President Fritz Weis, the percentage increase is the lowest since 1972. Weis stated that because the college relies heavily on net revenues from students, it is in the best interest of the college and students for tuition to remain affordable.

According to James Manifold, Vice President of Business Affairs at Scripps, increases to overall student charges have averaged around 6.5 percent for the past five years. However, Scripps was able to keep tuition increases low this year largely because of lower-than-average endowment declines and a gift of $1.9 million for scholarships by an anonymous alumna donor.

Scripps’s Director of Financial Aid David Levy said that Scripps has made a number of changes to improve aid for students and to make the application process more transparent. With the launch of a new online financial aid portal, students are now able to track the status of their financial documents and view their awards online. Furthermore, Scripps has decided to lower the maximum amount of student loans from $4,000 for sophomores, juniors, and seniors to $3,500.

Though it is early in the process, Levy said that currently it appears that more incoming students are applying for aid than in previous years.

“We encourage students and families facing financial hardships to contact us. The last thing we want to see is for students to drop out because of financial issues,” Levy said.

According to Les Butler, associate director of financial aid at Harvey Mudd College, the Board of Trustees has not made a final decision concerning cost of attendance increases yet.

“We are still in the process of finalizing tuition and fees for next year. We do have estimates, and I’m sure they are close to being approved,” Butler said.

Estimated tuition and fees for HMC will increase by about five percent from last year. However, Butler said that this percentage is consistent with the increases of the past few years, which were also around four to five percent.

According to Butler, there are significantly more applicants for financial aid this year compared to previous years. Although he expects more student appeals for aid as well, Butler stated that it is still too early to determine precise numbers. Harvey Mudd reported no changes in financial aid policies for next year.

Pitzer’s tuition for the coming year is expected to be slightly lower in proportion to last year. Tuition will not be officially decided until mid-May, and therefore the percentage change could not be announced. Director of Financial Aid Margaret Carothers reported that applicants to financial aid are only a slightly higher proportion of Pitzer’s applicant pool in comparison to previous years. She attributed this increase to the state of the economy. The financial aid practices at Pitzer have not changed as much as Carothers had feared when budget overhauls were first projected at the beginning of 2009.

Carothers added that she has recently received more questions about the future as people are contemplating the four-year expense of college. “People are thinking a lot harder about whether they want to make this commitment,” Carothers said.