Richard Ortner, President of The Boston Conservatory, Announces Tuition Will Not Increase for the 2016–2017 Academic Year

Boston Conservatory’s President Richard Ortner announced that tuition will remain at the current rate through the 2016-2017 academic year, bucking the general trend of rising college tuitions across the country. 

April 5, 2016

Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s President, Richard Ortner, announced that tuition will remain at the current rate through the 2016-2017 academic year, bucking the general trend of rising college tuitions across the country. 

In a letter sent to the members of the Boston Conservatory community earlier this week, Ortner announced that the Conservatory’s Board of Trustees has voted to keep tuition at $41,560 for most programs.

“This year, for the first time in many years, I am very pleased to tell you that there will be no tuition increase for the upcoming 2016­-2017 academic year,” Ortner wrote. “The Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s commitment to hold tuition rates flat for 2016-2017 provides families with some financial relief from the climbing cost of higher education, and allows them to better plan for the future.”

Ortner wrote that the Conservatory strives to balance the costs of its faculty-intensive and facilities-intensive Conservatory experience with a “recognition of the very real burden that these tuition increases place on families and students.”

Ortner also wrote than the tuition freeze is the first of a number of steps designed to keep the Conservatory at the forefront of performing arts education while the merger with Berklee is finalized.

“We are confident that, together, we can create a truly unique nexus for the world's most gifted actors, dancers and musicians,” Ortner wrote.

Tuition does not include room, board, or other related costs of attendance, which are scheduled to increase by 3.8 percent for the 2016-2017 academic year.