The University Board of Governors approved the resolution limiting tuition, fees and room and board raises to 3 percent today in their meeting held at Winants Hall on the College Avenue campus.
“The fee increases are modest at 3 percent. It is a part of the state budget language which caps tuition at that level and also as a result of our own decision-making to keep it there,” President Richard L. McCormick said.
Full-time in-state tuition for the 2009-2010 school year will be $9,546. Aside from the tuition, other items of the term bill that have risen include housing and residence education at 4.7 to 5 percent increase, dining and meal plan increases at 3.5 to 5 percent and the annual campus, school and computer fees for the School of Arts and Sciences rose to $2,340 from last year.
“We were very seriously considering limiting tuition raises even before the start of the economic crisis. As President McCormick said even before the state mandated the cap, we were sensitive to the economic difficulties that the parents are facing,” Executive Vice President of Student Affairs Philip J. Furmanski said.
The 3 percent limit comes after tuition rises of 8.5 percent last year and 7.8 the year before that, due in part to state budget cuts the University received in those respective years. The mandate to cap tuition and fee raises were part of the language changes added by the State Assembly to the original New Jersey budget bill recommended by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.
“While we hadn’t fixed on a number, we didn’t exactly say 3 percent,” Furmanski said. “We did say before the very start of the budget process that we were going to limit the tuition rise very seriously.”
Next year will feature the largest enrollment in Rutgers history, with more than 53,000 students in the fall, Furmanski said.
“Most of the increase[in enrollment] is due to our success in retaining students, and that we owe a great deal to our financial aid office, which more than ever is working to make sure our students have more than they need to be able to keep coming to Rutgers,” McCormick said.
The language states that in order receive money from the original stimulus package, senior public institutions of higher education must confirm that they cap their tuition rises to 3 percent.
“There has been unprecedented demand in the financial aid office; a lot of our students are coming back with changed family circumstances,” Furmanski said.
Mandatory fees are campus and school fees and include health, student, library and other services, he said.
The Board of Governors announced that they will be allocating an additional $2 million to student financial aid. The working budget for fiscal year 2009-2010 is $1.9 billion.
