Tuition & Fees

Parents were instructed to not tempt their sons with extravagance by allowing them to contract debts or giving them too much pocket money.

Tuition

1868-1899:

  • If 3 schools of study were attended: $75.00, if two: $70.00, if one: $40.00

1907-1912:

  • Tuition was approximately $50.00 per semester.

1913-1918:

  • Tuition was approximately $52.50 per semester.

1919-1924:

  • Tuition was approximately $55.00 per semester.

1925-1930:

  • Tuition was approximately $85.00 per semester.

1931-1936:

  • Tuition was approximately $93.50 per semester.

1938-1945:

  • Tuition was approximately $137.50 per semester.


Fees

1868-1899:

  • The matriculation fee was $15.00, board was approximately $10-18 per month, room rent was free and washing, lights, and fuel were $3.00. For students preparing for the ministry, only the matriculation fee is required.

1907-1912:

    • Additional fees were approximately $99.50 per semester.

1913-1918:

  • Additional fees were approximately $102 per semester.

1919-1924:

  • Additional fees were approximately $140 per semester.

1925-1930:

  • Additional fees were approximately $134 per semester

1931-1936:

  • Additional fees were approximately $167.75 per semester.

1938-1945:

  • Additional fees were approximately $188 per semester.



  • Tuition is inclusive to: Tuition, College Maintence, Medical Fees, and Athletic Fees
  • Additional fees is inclusive to: Room rental, Board, Laundry, Lights and Fuel, and Laboratory Fees

Prior to the 1940s, students at Randolph-Macon College were required to furnish their own dorms, eat meals off campus, and often either send their laundry home on the train for washing or pay a person in town to do it for them.


"Everybody had these little plastic laundry bags and you'd pack it up and sent it home and you got it back" - Paul Wornom, Class of 1937.

How did students afford a Randolph-Macon Education?

During the Great Depression, the United States government appropriated funding to help students afford college. This program was known as the National Youth Administration. Students laborered in order to afford their education.


"Alright, well one thing, we, it was physical in nature, but not labor, muscular labor. In th fall of the year, we raked leaves that fell to the ground. We raked them into large piles and the school had a team, by team I mean, horses or mules, and a large wagon" - Hardaway Abernathy, Class of 1939.

"The expense of a college education depends upon the habits and tastes of the individual and upon the amount of freedom of expenditures allowed by the parents...Many students spend very little more than the minimum; others exceed it greatly."

--Randolph-Macon Catalog (1945-1946)

Tuition

1945 - 1946

  • Tuition was approximately $75.00 per semester.

1955 - 1956

  • Tuition was approximately $130.00 per semester

1965 - 1966

  • Tuition was approximately $670.00 per semester.

1975 - 1976

  • Tuition was approximately $1,370.00 per semester.

1985 - 1986

  • Tuition was approximately $3,240.00 per semester.

1995 - 1996

  • Tuition was approximately $7,747.00 per semester.

2005 - 2006

  • Tuition was approximately $12,820.00 per semester.

2018 - 2019

  • Tuition was approximately $20,000.00 per semester.

How Did People Afford an R-MC Education?

"Hard work...I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarships in my senior year of high school...and then I worked, I worked a year between high school and college. Then I worked at jobs here on campus from here in Walter Hines Page Library to helping Dr. Moreland's wife clean up their yard."

--Tom Bass, Class of 1954

"I had a number of small outside scholarships...I worked every year that I was here on my work study in various offices, including the admissions office, the presidents office, wherever I could get work...but the college always met my need. If I was running shorter, or needed something, I could always go to financial aid and they would always listen and try to find the best solution for my problem, whether it was a small tiny grant or loan that would just make the difference, for me to make ends meet."

--Robin Ann Floyd, Class of 1985

"I had part time jobs in the summer...and I was a student assistant in education one year...my dad paid the tuition. All four hundred dollars or something like that."

--Edward Dinwiddie, Class of 1951