2023 - 2024 Tuition Letter

March 1, 2023

Dear W&L Parents and Family Members:

At a recent meeting, Washington and Lee's Board of Trustees approved the following tuition and fees for 2023-24:

Tuition $63,315
Room $9,230
Board $8,455
Student Activity Fee $640
Student Technology Fee $320
Student Health Fee $250

As we look ahead to the coming academic year, we continue to focus on the goals and underlying initiatives outlined in our Strategic Plan and to build on the quality of the student experience through investments in facilities, people, and programs. This spring, we began the renovation of the Marketplace and Café '77, two of our primary student dining venues. Beginning this summer, we will break ground on a new building to support the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics. And next year, we will break ground on the new Lindley Center for Student Wellness.

Our investments in people and programs include new positions in Student Affairs to help meet student demand for health and counseling services and an expansion of our Leading Edge program to allow all first-year students to benefit from immersive orientation experiences. We will expand our staff in Career Placement and increase the number of funded student research, travel and internship experiences as we work to ensure that every undergraduate can avail themselves of at least one such opportunity during their academic career. We recently received a generous bequest that makes it possible to underwrite costs associated with Spring Term Abroad courses for students who otherwise cannot afford these trips. Finally, we are hiring three new faculty members to support the work of the DeLaney Center, an interdisciplinary academic hub for teaching and research on Southern race relations, culture and politics, while also offering courses in other areas of the curriculum.

As we consider these strategic investments, we remain mindful of how we allocate our resources and routinely benchmark our performance against our top liberal arts college peers. In the most recent year's comparison, W&L spent $3,640 more per student in instructional costs but $10,895 less in total expenses per student than the peer mean. Another measure of efficiency we consider is the ratio of administrative costs to instructional costs. In 2022, W&L had the lowest ratio within our peer group: .224 versus the peer average of .362.

We recognize that you make a significant commitment and sacrifice to send your child to W&L, and every student comes in with outstanding gifts and potential. Our objective is to ensure that we offer opportunities and challenges to each of them so that they may reach that potential while at W&L and in their endeavors after graduation.

Cordially,

Steven G. McAllister
Treasurer and Vice President
for Finance