Divinity Costs Cause Tuition Rise in '54-'55

Tuition at the Divinity School will be raised from $150 to $400 beginning next fall, Acting Dean George H. Williams announced yesterday.

The increase, proposed as a direct step towards removing the School's annual deficit, will be much the same as the tuitions at other leading divinity schools. Liston Pope, dean of the Yale Divinity School, also stated last night that the Yale School's tuition will be raised from $300 to $400, effective for the 1955-56 school year.

The yearly tuition of the Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University in New York will remain at $400.

School Will Increase Services

Williams said that the additional tuition at the University will be used mainly to help the School pay for half of its students' field work expenses. The money will also be used for the School's general renovation and expanded faculty plan.

Pope stated that the boost at the Yale Divinity School has been necessitated by a yearly deficit. He added that even with the raise a Divinity student will only be paying one-third of what his education actually costs.

At the end of the fiscal year last June the Divinity School showed a deficit of $32,229.71. Although this loss was absorbed by the University, President Pusey stated last fall that once the School has been built up by its new endowment fund campaign, it will have to support itself financially.

Contributions Now at $2,500,000

Vice-chairman of the fund drive, Walter H. Trumbull, announced last February that the drive had already passed the half-way mark towards its goal of $5,000,000. Contributions thus far have amounted to $2,544,000.

When the campaign's $5,000,000 goal is reached, the Divinity School will have about $7,000,000 with which to begin its expansion program. It has an existing endowment of $1,000,000 and will receive an additional grant from the Corporation when the drive ends.