UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1990-11_Page-011

President's Report Page 3 Board of Trustees November, 1990 In order to finance the additional financial aid, we have begun i. an Emergency Gulf Scholarship Fund, which we hope to build to $ 1,000,000 with donations from outside of AUC. A member of this Board, Sheikh Kamal Adham gave a key, lead gift of $ 100,000 at the opening of the drive. Chairman Kelberer and Vice Chairman Hedlund were supportive and very active in contacting potential donors and supporters in the Middle East. In addition, we have held discussions with the Kuwaiti ambassador to Egypt .and others, describing what we are doing and asking for their help • . The response has been uniformly - supportive. u. S. ENDOWMENT For several years, an endowment in Egyptian pounds, under control of the U.S. Embassy, has been dedicated to AUC. The sharp deterioration of the value of the pound vis-a-vis the dollar had reduced the corpus of the endowment to the equivalent of approximately $ 18,500,000. After significant efforts by President Pedersen and officials of the Embassy and the Agency for International Development, Congress passed legislation requesting the Egyptian government to add sufficient funds to bring the value to $ 50,000,000. Furthermore, the new agreement governing the trust calls for an annual topping up of the corpus to $ 50,000,000, in the event of further erosion in the value of the pound. It was my pleasure to represent AUC at the ceremony at which the Embassy, represented by Ambassador Wisner, and A.I.D., represented by Deputy Director Charles Weden, entered into the new agreement. TUITION FOR AY 1991/92 We are not yet prepared to recommend to the Board the tuition for next year. However, several factors point to no increase or to a very modest increase over the tuition for the current year. The report to the Academic & Research Committee presents a detailed analysis of these factors, but in brief they are the Gulf Crisis, the $ 50,000,0000 endowment, the deteriorating Egyptian economy, the political cost of a tuition increase, and some evidence that we may be pricing ourselves out of the market. The University finds itself in the position of being unable to recruit additional foreign students who could pay the full tuition because of the provision in the protocol requiring the student body to be composed of at least 75% Egyptians. However, it is the Egyptians who are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to pay the tuition, even though in reality the average Egyptian student pays only about 60% of the full, stated tuition. My current thinking is to recommend holding the tuition for AY 1991/92 at this year's level and to begin early next year to build the case for an- increase in AY 1992/93. There would be a definite benefit to the University in demonstrating our concern for the economic plight of Egyptian families. We should keep in mind that a small increase could bear a political cost far beyond any gain to the University. In the current environment a large increase could have a disastrous effect on the University. /