Despite claims by parents and alumni that they would stop donating to Dickinson College following an incident during Halloween of 2017 in which a white student dressed in a Colin Kaepernick costume, Josh Trego, director of the Dickinson Fund, says “We haven’t seen any relationship between giving to the Dickinson Fund and the Halloween incident.”

“The relationship between our alumni and parent community and the Dickinson Fund is and continues to be very strong,” said Trego.  “When we meet with and hear from Dickinsonians across the country and the globe,” Trego continued, “they are overwhelmingly excited about the direction in which President Ensign is leading our college. This energy, passion and leadership is helping our fundraising efforts.”

Bryce Haver ’20 is a student caller for Dickinson’s annual Phonathon, an event to “engage more than 1,500 alumni, parents and friends of the college to raise money for the Dickinson Fund,” according to Dickinson’s website. Haver explained that “there were around one of every nine donors who refused to donate because of this incident. I have also discussed the incident with people who were also outraged by the incident but donated or did not donate for other reasons. I was amazed at the scope of how many alumni knew, I would say for at least a month after the incident, a fourth of my calls mentioned it.”

The Dickinson Fund is a platform where Dickinson alumni, parents, faculty, staff and students can make a gift to support Dickinson. According to the college website, The Dickinson Fund is spent annually to support educational access for students in need, funding sustainability efforts and purchasing lab equipment and art supplies.

According to Trego, in the past five years, The Dickinson Fund has raised $6.6 million in the 2013 fiscal year, $3.8 million in 2014, $4.8 million in 2015, $4.9 million in 2016, and most recently $5.3 million in 2017.

According to Sean Witte, associate vice president for financial operations and controllers, the college’s income consists mainly of “the comprehensive fee charged to students,” which includes “tuition, fees, room and board.” These fees “[make] up over 80 percent of our annual operating budget. Another 15 percent of the annual operating budget is funded from donors through a combination of annual gifts, grants and endowment spending with the remaining five percent coming from other auxiliary sources such as the bookstore, children’s center and conferences and special events.” Witte adds that “within the college income, it is up to the Board of Trustees to determine balanced budget each year so our budgeted revenues equal our budgeted expenses.”

According to Witte, the annual gross operating budget is approximately $180 million, with over $50 million representing financial aid. “Similar to other colleges,” said Witte, “salaries and benefits make up the greatest piece of the operating budget,” which are “fairly consistent from year to year.”

Some students have noticed that compared to previous years, tuition has increased and are wondering if the college may not have enough income to operate for the coming years.

Noah Frank ’20 says that he noticed the increase in tuition, but wanted to know where that money was going.  “I definitely support the refugee program, but perhaps to reduce costs to students Carlisle residents do not require a full ride since they may not have to pay for housing, perhaps 80 [percent] can be covered.”  He continued to claim that he doesn’t “think we should increase tuition just for the sake of doing so, or because other schools have.  But if it is to support initiatives that actually benefit the school and society, like tuition assistance or hosting refugees, I could support modest increases in tuition. The school in turn through should have modest increases in aid provided to those who require it.”

Addressing funding for President Margee Ensign’s new initiatives, which include the Carlisle Resident Scholarship and the bridge program with the U.S. Army War College, Witte said that “these programs are designed to be funded from sources other than tuition increases.  The Carlisle Resident Scholarship program will be funded from existing resources.  The college has secured external funding from a private foundation as well as the Victims Support Fund from the Nigerian government to support the refuge program. The proposed War College programs are designed to generate new revenue.”

Witte claims “tuition increases are required each year in order to cover increasing costs and inflation.” According to statista.com, inflation in the U.S. has decreased from 2.65 percent in 2017 to 2.38 percent in 2018.

Witte also notes that  “student charges represent the largest percentage of our annual funding and increases are required to cover salary increases, increases in benefit costs (with medical insurance representing the largest piece), along with increases in utilities, rent, contracts and other expenses.”

Witte revealed that Dickinson’s “fee increases of approximately 3.5 percent over the last five years have been lower than our peer group on average and are lower than the average increases we have seen in financial aid, which have increased approximately [5] percent during the same timeframe.”

According to collegetuitioncompare.com, from the 2016-2017 academic year to the 2017-2018 academic year, Franklin & Marshall College raised their tuition 3.5 percent and Gettysburg College has raised tuition 4 percent.