Total undergraduate costs for attending Northwestern will increase by $2,150 next year to help pay for rising utility costs, financial aid and faculty salaries and benefits, NU officials said Monday.
NU’s Board of Trustees approved the 5.2-percent climb in tuition, fees, and room and board Saturday, raising the total cost of attending NU to $43,818 up from $41,662 .
Tuition rises every year, and this year’s hike is consistent with increases in the past 6 years, said Al Cubbage, vice president for university relations. Last year, NU increased the total cost of attendance $2,081, or 5.7 percent.
Since the 2001-02 school year, tuition has increased $7,714, generally rising faster than the rate of inflation.
Tuition and fees alone for undergraduates will increase 5.6 percent next year. The figure does not include Associated Student Government’s proposal to increase the student activities fee from $120 to $126 next year, said Eugene Sunshine, vice president for business and finance.
Some of the additional revenue will support faculty pay raises.
“The market for these kinds of people, these kinds of quality individuals who teach and work at NU are such that if we don’t increase their salaries at something higher than inflation, we’ll have a problem (retaining them),” Sunshine said.
Investing in quality faculty will only help future NU students, Weinberg junior Jonathan Moore said.
“We’re a top-notch research institution,” Moore said. “I see Northwestern faculty on the news all the time. We do have a good reputation.”
The tuition hike will also help pay for the rising costs of employee benefits, especially in health care.
“The university covers the majority of those health insurance costs for its employees,” Cubbage said. “Those (costs) have been increasing at a double-digit rate.”
Room and board rates will increase 4 percent for undergraduate students living in a double room and on a 19-meal-a-week plan, to $10,265 up from $9,876.
“A big part of that component is board, and the cost of food increases every year,” Cubbage said. Room and board rates help pay salaries and benefits for dining hall employees, he said.
Financial aid grants for undergraduates will rise in proportion to the jump in tuition. More than 40 percent of NU students receive grants and scholarships. The university provides more than $60 million a year in financial aid.
Financial aid benefits from tuition increases, Sunshine said.
“The university has one of its principal agendas making sure that the university is affordable for individuals and families that need financial aid,” he said. “We’re always very cognizant that we have substantial enough financial aid.”
The jump in financial aid also will help students living off-campus cope with rising rents, Weinberg senior Meli Loeppert said.
The tuition increases were expected but are still worrisome, said Music and McCormick freshman Jonathan Shih.
“If some of that $2,000 finds its way to the students, I’d say maybe it’s worth it,” Shih said.
Money from the NU’s $4.2 billion endowment is not earmarked for rising costs, Sunshine said.
NU officials said total costs were less than average for other comparable universities.
The Board of Trustees also approved tuition increases for NU’s graduate school, law school and Feinberg School of Medicine. Tuition for the Kellogg School of Management will be finalized later this year.
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