The Grinnell College Board of Trustees has approved a 5.59 percent increase to the total comprehensive fee for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year, announced via a Nov. 15 email. This brings the total cost of attending Grinnell for someone on the unlimited meal plan and living on campus, before any financial aid or scholarships, to $89,694.
In an email to The S&B, Germaine Gross, vice president for finance and treasurer of the College, wrote, “In setting the comprehensive fee, the College considers a wide variety of factors including personnel costs, program costs, payments on the College’s debt, the need to have reserves for emergencies like the pandemic and the hailstorm and what it costs to maintain facilities and heating and cooling them.”
Gross wrote that inflation was a primary factor in the decision. “Grinnell experiences many of the same costs increases that consumers do including food, fuel, utilities, construction/renovation, insurance (both for the campus and its buildings and for employee health coverage) and other supplies.”
The College expects its fees to remain lower than its peer institutions. “Grinnell’s collaborative funding approach reflects our commitment to providing an exceptional education and unparalleled educational experiences and the belief that these opportunities should be available to students with financial need,” Gross wrote.
Gross wrote that the cost of education for each student, which is calculated by the total operating budget of the College divided by the number of students, is about $15,000 more than the comprehensive fee. With the comprehensive fee set around $90,000 for the upcoming academic year, this indicates that Grinnell College operates on a budget of around $105,000 per student. “Even students who pay the full fee receive a significant discount when compared to the actual cost of their education,” Gross wrote.
The email announced a new program that would “ensure students have affordable, first-day access to essential materials, with costs seamlessly included in tuition and the flexibility to opt out if needed.” It stated that, under the program, “students’ core books and supplies will be covered under the comprehensive fee.”
Gross wrote that the program will be officially named soon, with more details to come in the spring semester. She stated that, “The College has worked closely with faculty throughout the selection and implementation process for this program,” and that the program intends to maintain faculty’s “academic freedom to choose the course materials that best fit the class curriculum, including the content provider, edition and medium.”
The program, according to Gross, “doesn’t change in price based on the textbooks and materials used. It is a flat fee per student, which means that all students can explore the curriculum without regard to the cost of course materials.”
Student reactions to the comprehensive fees increase were mixed. Brooke Novinger `27 said, “It just seems like a lot. Like, I know Grinnell is a very good school, but it just sometimes seems like a lot for what we’re offered.”
“I thought it was a little bit shocking,” Anubi Nanzon `27 said. “I mean, obviously all colleges have to increase their tuition over time, but I think that the 5.59 percent increase is definitely a lot.”
Judd Brau `27 said that the increase reflects more on the state of higher education, generally, than it does on Grinnell College. “This is a trend in broader higher education, where it just keeps costing more and more and more,” he said. “I think just in one word, it’s concerning,” Brau said. “How much more is it going to increase for my children and their generation?”
Students said that new first-day access program, as presented, will not adequately address their costs.
“That’s really frustrating,” Nanzon said. “I have classes where I’ve never touched my textbook, or I’ve used it once or twice. I think that establishing an overall fee to include textbook materials is unfair, especially if you’re in a class where there’s a textbook that’s required, but it’s not actually used.”
“Along with lots of other students, I try and find a lot of my books on LibGen and other resources,” Brau said. “I would be interested in an opt-out option, because I didn’t have to pay for a textbook this semester.”
The comprehensive fees increase does not rule out the Board of Trustees’ potential decision to discontinue the College’s need-blind admissions policy. As Gross wrote, “The comprehensive fee decision is part of the annual budget process, while admissions policies have historically been reviewed every three years. Both are components of the College’s financial sustainability.”
