Student body will grow to 2,450 by 2012

The College plans to increase the student body by 50 students, lower the annual increase of the comprehensive fee and retain the current financial aid structure, according to an address given by President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz on Feb. 12.

If the Board of Trustees approves Liebowitz’s recommendations, the size of the student body will increase to 2,450. Although Liebowitz stated in his address that he has “been an advocate of reducing the size of the student body,” the increase “will bring more benefits than problems.”

According to Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett, the increase will take place over the next two years, and that “it actually will be a fairly easy thing to accomplish.”

The College had originally planned to admit a smaller class next year because of the larger size of the Class of 2011, but it will now admit the standard amount of students — about 600 for September and 90 for February.

More transfer students will also be admitted in the sophomore and junior classes in order to reach the target student body, according to Clagett.

“We certainly have more than enough highly-qualified applicants to admit a few more each year and bring us to our projected enrollment,” said Clagett.

Liebowitz is confident that Clagett has the situation under control, and the transition can be made smoothly.

“Clagett has been thinking about this,” said Liebowitz. “He has all these levers he can pull.”

The current approach to financial aid — by which the College is need-blind for domestic students and need aware for international students — would remain the same.

Clagett supports Liebowitz’s decision, and wishes the College could be need-blind for all students, but insisted that the need-aware policy for international students is the “financially prudent course for Middlebury to take right now.”

Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Services Kim Downs think the recommendations made by Liebowitz are impressive, especially considering the extra aid needed by current students due to the economic downturn.

“I believe it is significant that Middlebury is committed to retaining a need-blind admission policy and a financial aid policy that will ensure the full demonstrated need of every admitted student is met,” wrote Downs in an e-mail.

“President Liebowitz mentioned in his address on Friday that we did face a considerable increase in our financial aid budget with much of that being attributed to returning student appeals and first time aid recipients.”

The College community also supports keeping the current approach to financial aid, according to a survey given at the end of last year.

“Students [found] financial aid the least preferable thing by far to cut,” said Liebowitz in an interview with “The Campus.”

“It was the highest priority for students. Faculty were more willing to have salaries slide than financial aid. I think that’s pretty selfless.

They believe that financial aid means greater diversity in the classroom, which means more interesting discussions and better educational opportunities. Faculty are very supportive of the financial aid program. Staff had other interests. For faculty and students, it hits home.”

“It is important to remember that as a proportion of our student body, at around 10 percent, Middlebury still has one of the highest enrollments of international students among liberal arts colleges in the country,” said Clagett, “and our financial commitment is still very substantial, at around $8 million in financial aid for currently-enrolled international students. Having a broad international enrollment will always be a big part of what Middlebury is all about.”

Liebowitz also recommended that the College strive to keep the annual increase in the comprehensive fee at one percentage point above the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI). In the past, the comprehensive fee increases were often more than two percentage points, and sometimes as high as four percentage points, higher than the CPI, according to Liebowitz.

Even last year, with the lowest increase in the comprehensive fee in 37 years — 3.2 percent — the increase was still three percentage points above the CPI.

“We need to recognize that the demand for a four-year liberal arts degree, while still great, is not inelastic,” said Liebowitz in his address.

“There will be a price point at which even the most affluent of families will question their investment; the sooner we are able to reduce our fee increases the better.”

Hannah Burnett ’10, who works at the admissions office as a senior admissions fellow, is not sure how much this decision will influence the decisions of prospective students, but she thinks it sends a strong message about the College’s priorities.

“I’m not certain that this decision will make a big difference in applicants choosing Middlebury,” wrote Burnett in an e-mail, “since the students looking at Midd are already prepared to deal with a $50,000 yearly tuition, but it sends a message that we are genuinely concerned with the future of the College and how if tuition hikes are not controlled they may influence admissions later on.”

Dan Johnston ’14.5 thinks that these changes should be good for the College, and is glad he is going to start at Middlebury under more auspicious conditions next February.

“These changes make education more affordable for more people, which is really good,” said Johnston. “This decision definitely makes things better for the general public. It will be interesting to see what it does to Middlebury’s financial situation.”