Undergraduates at UR will see a 6.9 percent increase in tuition next year, coupled with a 3.6 percent increase in room and board costs. In total, the cost of attending as an undergraduate will increase by 6.1 percent.
“Next year’s increase is driven by a combination of factors including rising costs,” Chief Financial Officer Ronald Paprocki said. “These costs included the dramatic increases in natural gas prices that we’ve experienced over the past year as well as a desire to maintain and improve the quality of the University’s programs.”
Students across UR will feel the increase in tuition as costs rise everywhere. Current undergraduates at the Eastman School of Music will see an increase of 5 percent over their current tuition rate, while incoming freshmen will be subject to a 10 percent increase.
Tuition for undergraduates in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering will pay $32,650 in tuition next year, as opposed to $30,540 this year. Room and board costs will grow from $9,838 to $10,192.
“We have a great faculty that are sought after by top institutions around the country,” Paprocki said. “It is important that we offer competitive salaries in order to retain them and to recruit faculty of the same high caliber.”
The annual budget for UR approaches 1.7 billion dollars, although less than ten percent of that total is earmarked for The College. Of the funding devoted to The College, 53 percent is derived from tuition payments. “Other sources of support in The College’s budget are the University’s endowment, gift income and reimbursements from government funded research,” Paprocki said.
UR’s tuition amount is comparable to other comparable institutions, according to Paprocki. “This year, our tuition rate, $30,540, was below the median of $30,820 for the institutions in the University Athletic Association,” he said.
In addition to UR, the other members of the Association are Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Chicago, Brandeis University, Washington University in St. Louis, Emory University, Case Western Reserve University and New York University.
The increase in tuition for next year will not change UR’s standing within that group.
In addition to covering rising costs, next year’s tuition increase will fund improvements around campus.
“We are also putting more money into facilities,” Paprocki said. “Next year we hope that students will notice the initial benefits of a program to improve classrooms on campus.”
In addition to the increases at Eastman and the River Campus, other departments at UR will be hit by tuition increases. The School of Nursing will see a 5.1 percent increase, the School of Medicine and Dentistry will see a 3.9 percent increase and the Simon School of Business will see an increase of three percent.
Next year’s increase in tuition will be the second largest increase by percentage in the last six years, second only to this year’s 8.1 percent increase.
According to the UR Office of Communications, the total charge for undergraduates participating in the most popular room and board plan next year will be $42,842.Majarian can be reached at mmajarian@campustimes.org.
