The price tag for a Northwestern education will increase by about 4 percent next year, with tuition rising to $43,380, the University announced Tuesday.
Financial aid will also see an 11 percent increase, said University spokesman Al Cubbage. The University plans to offer more than $118 million in scholarships and grants to undergraduates, he added.
“For the past several years, Northwestern has had a percentage increase in financial aid dollars that is significantly greater than the tuition increase,” Cubbage said.
The costs of tuition and fees have steadily increased by about 4 to 5 percent since 2001, Cubbage said. After 2001, the highest tuition increase occurred in the 2005-2006 academic year, when costs rose by 5.7 percent.
The cost of room and board is also set to increase to $13,329, which applies to any undergraduate student living in a double room on a 19-meal per week board plan. The athletic and activity fees will also increase.
The funds yielded from the tuition increase will go toward the general operating budget of the University and will pay for University investments, including financial aid, academic and student programs, salary increases for NU faculty and facility improvement.
“In order to support the general operations of the University, tuition and fees are an important component of the budget,” Cubbage said.
To fund financial aid, Cubbage said, the University uses funds from a variety of sources, including tuition payments, alumni gifts and the University endowment. He cited that from Sept. 2010 to Aug. 2011, NU had a $1.7 billion budget. The University collected $768 million in tuition and fees, but gave $254 million of that pool back to students in the form of scholarships and fellowships.
Dean of Students Burgwell Howard said the expanded financial aid resources demonstrate the University’s aim to keep NU affordable for students.
“They’re trying to help families stay ahead of the curve,” Howard said.
However, Howard said, the annual tuition increase at NU usually negatively affects families that are in the financial middle: those who are not near the poverty line but are not “the Mitt Romneys of the world.” It is these families. Howard said, that have been “squeezed” over the last few years by the tuition increases.
SESP and Weinberg sophomore Katherine Stewart did not receive any financial aid from NU her freshman year, which discouraged her to reapply this year. Every year, the former The Daily staffer said, she pays for her NU education with her college fund and parents’ income. Although her parents will be able to pay for her entire education, she said, she will have limited funds afterward.
Because her education relies on these two financial sources that are unfixed, she said, it requires her parents to plan more.
“It worries me on behalf of my parents,” Stewart said.
