Undergraduate tuition rates will increase by 3.5% next year

Annual full-time tuition rates for undergraduates will jump $1,764 next year, a 3.5% increase from the current full-time tuition rate. Part-time tuition rates and overload credits will both rise $59 per credit next year, also a 3.5% increase. Next year, tuition costs will reach $52,134 for full-time students and $1,738 per credit for part-time students and overload credits, applying to all undergraduate students for the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters.

Tuition increased to accommodate needs such as campus-wide technology, student support services, facilities improvements, and compensation for faculty and staff, according to Louis Mayer, Vice President of Finance. “As a general rule,” Mayer added, “Stevens strives to keep its annual rate of increase as close to inflation as possible.”

Each year since 2014, tuition rates have risen at a steady rate of around 3.5%, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. Tuition and fees for undergraduates in the 2014 to 2015 academic year averaged $45,812, according to NCES. In 2015 to 2016, it was $47,190. The year after that, $48,838. Last year, tuition and fees hit $50,554, and the current tuition rate, with fees, reaches $52,202.

With fees, next year’s tuition will be $54,104.

Stevens determines the appropriateness of tuition rates by comparing current tuition to peer institutions. “[We] ensure that our tuition pricing is market competitive and that a Stevens education remains accessible to as many students as possible,” Mayer said.

Financial assistance for current undergraduates will not increase along with the tuition hike, according to Mayer and Susan Gross, Assistant Vice President of Financial Aid and Undergraduate Admissions. However, the total institutional financial aid budget is expected to see an increase to help accommodate for increasing enrollment sizes, said Gross. “We expect that the financial aid budget will increase, as it has in past practice, to allow for a growing enrollment,” she stated.

According to Mayer, Stevens expects to spend a total of $82,764,000 in institutional scholarships and grants for the current academic year. “And although the budget for 2019-2020 will not be finalized until May 2019,  the total institutional financial aid budget is expected to rise to $89,625,000 — an increase of 8.3%,” said Mayer.

Mayer added that he believes Stevens’ undergraduate tuition rate is appropriate. “[This tuition rate] provides adequate funding for the required costs that are necessary to run the University within the parameters of a balanced operating budget and solid financial profile,” said Mayer.