The cost of education is on the rise again for Northwestern undergraduate students, according to a University news release emailed to all students last month.
Student expenses are set to increase by 4.4 percent, bumping total costs to $54,763 from the current year’s $52,463.
The raise in tuition will be coupled with a 13 percent increase in undergraduate financial aid, which will help offset the increase for need-based applicants.
“The University always ensures that financial aid will increase at the same amount or more than the tuition,” University spokesman Al Cubbage said.
Although the increase in tuition has unsettled some students, Cubbage said that tuition increases every year, usually staying within the range of 4 to 5 percent. This year, the increase is planned to fund academic and student programs, salary and benefit increases for NU faculty and staff, and improvements to information technology and facilities maintenance.
Increases in college tuition place a strain on family finances and spending, said NU economics Prof. Martin Zelder.
“Families at some level regard (a Northwestern education) as an investment,” Zelder said. “People won’t continue coming to Northwestern if they weren’t receiving or expecting to receive the substantial benefits that correspond.”
Unlike many other industries that have become mechanized over the years, he said, higher education is one of the few industries that cannot replace people with machines or outsourced employees. Therefore, in order to fund all the people that are needed to run a university, it becomes more expensive for the students.
Besides the increase in tuition and room and board, the undergraduate student athletic fee will increase from $39 to $41, the student activity fee will increase from $144 to $150 and the premium for students participating in NU’s voluntary student health insurance program will increase by 5 percent.
Although the administration tries to make NU affordable for all students, Associate Provost Mike Mills said he does think the large ticket price can discourage students, especially those from low-income households, from applying.
“They aim low, or they don’t aim at all, and it’s tragic,” he said.
For all incoming students, financial aid packages were created after the cost increase was determined. The financial aid packages of continuing students will also be adjusted to account for the increase, Cubbage said.
According to Mills, the money for financial aid comes from both the endowment and tuition.
Mills said more students will be eligible for need-based financial aid, but those who still do not qualify will have to pay the new, higher amount.
“Northwestern becomes more expensive for them to pay, that’s true,” he said.
But even as the cost of NU rises, students continue to apply to the University, Mills said. This year NU received a record 30,975 applicants, nearly doubling its applicant pool from five years ago. Consequently, admissions rates also dipped below 20 percent for the first time ever, falling from 23.1 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2011.
“Every time a recession happens, applications to these elite schools go up,” he said. “Our appeal is heightened when economics get tough. People realize it’s really important to go to a great school.”
Communication junior Michael Belmonte said he wasn’t surprised by the increase and felt it could be justified.
“I think the resources we get here are ample enough to expect that type of increase,” Belmonte said.
However, he added that the administration should only continue to increase tuition if it stops cutbacks of student resources.
Unlike Belmonte, SESP sophomore Nicole Yang said tuition increases are somewhat unfair because not all NU students will benefit equally from the University’s proposed funding changes.
“You’re paying for a lot of stuff you’re not going to use,” she said.
Yang’s parents already pay most of her tuition, but she worries about her family’s financial situation next year when her sister also goes to college.
“It might put more pressure on us,” she said.
Like Yang, Medill sophomore Aja Edwards is concerned about her family and how the tuition increase will affect their financial resources. Edwards already works two jobs and she now gets aid from the University. However, her parents still have to help out with her college expenses.
She also said she hopes the University has exhausted every other possible avenue for funding and is using tuition increases as a last resort.
“It’s still hard for them because I have two younger siblings,” she said. “It’s not very easy to spread.”
