Tuition

Tuition in 1770 was a lowly twelve dollars per year, and room rent was five dollars per year. After the Revolution tuition went up to sixteen dollars and room rent went down to four. Tuition was increased at intervals, reaching $20 in 1801, $36 in 1827, $50 in 1864, and $75 in 1870. In spite of this sizeable increase, Brown was still less costly than Harvard at $150 and Yale at $90. In 1877 tuition was raised to $100 per year. In 1902 a modest increase brought the fee up to $105, a rate which survived until 1917, when it leaped to $175. After the war there were regular, but not drastic increases, $200 in 1919, $250 in 1921, $300 in 1922, $350 in 1925, and $400 in 1928. There it remained during the depression years, then rose to $450 in 1940, and, after World War II, to $500 in 1946. By $100 increments every few years, the cost of tuition reached $700 in 1952. By 1960 the rate had doubled to $1,400, and by 1990 through hefty annual increases was more than ten times that amount.