Tuition to Rise by 8.7%; Fees Will Total $13,150

Tuition and room and board charges for the College will go up 8.7 percent next year, an increase well below the rise in costs at other Ivy League and East coast colleges.

The higher charges--which raise basic undergraduate costs from $12,100 to $13,150--will be accompanied by an even larger increase in the undergraduate financial aid budget in order to preserve Harvard's aid-blind admissions policy. Both increases were finalized at Monday's Corporation meeting.

The 8.7 percent rise will be the College's lowest percentage hike in costs since 1979, when they went up by 8.5 percent in the last three years undergraduate costs have risen by successive percentages of 12 7, 15 0, and 14.8, contributing to an overall doubling of tuition over seven years.

However, for the first time in eight years, the increase is significantly higher than the previous year's inflation rate Last year's Consumer Price Index rose by 3 9 percent.

Officials at several eastern colleges anticipated this week that undergraduate costs will increase by about 12 percent next year But because Harvard currently charges slightly more than most other east coast schools, its costs should roughly equal its academic peers' next year.

Officials at Harvard and other colleges at tributed the continuing high tuition increases to faculty salary raises and other budgeting problems remaining from the inflationary pressures of the past six years.

Financial Vice President Thomas O' Brien said yesterday that faculty salaries are still "catching up" with increases in inflation from the mid 1970's. "I think we're carrying a hangover from double digit inflation," said Columbia Director of Admissions James McMenian.

Princeton last week raised its tuition by 12 6 percent to a total of $12.910 Financial officials at Columbia. Penn, Cornell, and Brown, although still in the early stages of their budgeting process, also reported expected increases close to 12 percent.

MIT, which charged $13.500 last year, the most in the nation, will remain higher than Harvard, raising its costs by at least 5 percent and perhaps more, an official at the institute said.

In raining the financial aid budget by 9.9 percent, Harvard will continue to admit students without regard to financial need, University officials announced. Several colleges have been forced to abandon aid-blind admissions policies in the past two years because of declining federal funds available to college students.

Explaining why college cost increases exceed the inflation rate, O'Brien also cited higher energy costs and a falling rate of return in Harvard's endowment distribution rate a prorated measure of the University's income from its securities portfolios--as an added pressure requiring tuition increases within all University faculties.

"In general, we're going to see tuition going up faster than inflation as long as endowment distribution per share is falling said O'Brien

In spite of this year's warm winter and an international fall in oil prices. Harvard expects that its energy costs will continue to rise this year because it is negotiating a new long term steam contract with the Com Energy Steam Corporation. O'Brien added

Other Faculties Increases

Tuition hikes at Harvard's other faculties also approved at Monday's Corporation meeting are as follows

* Business up 12% to $9000;

* Design up 12% to $8600;

* Divinity up 9% to $5790;

* Education up 8.3% to $8320;

* Kennedy School of Government up 9.5% to $8650;

* Public Health up 7% to $7950;

Tuition figures were unavailable yesterday for the graduate schools of Dental Medicine Law and Medicine Rises in College Costs Year  Costs '83-'84  $13,150 '82-'83  12,100 '81-'82  10,540 '80-'81  9,170 '79-'80  8,140