This past weekend, UR administration announced the tuition, room and board rates for the upcoming 2015-2016 year. Tuition for undergraduates will increase approximately 2.8 percent to $47,450, room and board will rise by 4.8 percent to $14, 294, and the overall cost of attendance will rise by approximately 3.3 percent. Tuition rates for the Eastman School of Music will also rise by approximately 3.5 percent.
A committee of administrators is responsible for decisions about budget and tuition.
Provost Peter Lennie stated, “The budget planning begins in the schools. The budget proposals from the schools, including recommendations about tuition, are discussed and reviewed by President Seligman and other senior administrators, and then the budget is submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval.”
To counter the increase and its effect on students who receive grants or scholarships from the school, UR has also committed to an additional 5.9 percent increase in financial aid for the students. Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jonathan Burdick noted, “As it happens, our spending on financial aid this year was a little more than 100 million, so the increase in the aid budget for next year will be a little more than six million. That includes increased money for both current and new students; the plan is that the Class of 2019 will be about the same size as the Class of 2018.”
Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance and Chief Financial Officer Ronald J. Paprocki was quick to point out that although this is an increase from the last year, it is one of the lowest in years, and there are widespread efforts to control costs.
“[The tuition increase] for undergraduates in Arts Sciences and Engineering is the lowest since 1973-74,” Paprocki noted. “In addition to the prioritization and cost control activities in the individual schools, there have been University-wide efforts to control costs. These include contract revisions in purchasing that save money on goods and services purchased by the University, adjustments in health benefits programs for employees and introduction of Wellness programs to control healthcare costs, energy management programs that have reduced the University’s utilities costs, and refinancing of the University’s debt to reduce interest costs.”
Paprocki said that the additional funds will go toward student services and programs as well as upgrading facilities and establishing new faculty. According to Lennie, some of the additional money will be going toward funding academic programs such as the planned Data Science major, new languages and more research opportunities. Some of the money will be used in the forthcoming renovation of the Frederick Douglass Building.
Usmani is a member of
the class of 2017.
