Rutgers Board of Governors Approves Overall 2.2 Percent Increase in Tuition, Fees, and Room and Board Charges for In-State Undergraduates in 2012-2013

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – At its annual budget meeting earlier today, the Board of Governors of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, established tuition, fee, and room and board rates for the 2012-13 academic year. Total charges for a typical, in-state, Arts and Science undergraduate living on the New Brunswick Campus will rise by 2.2% under the plan approved by the board this morning.

“I am pleased that for the second consecutive year in-state tuition charges at Rutgers will be increasing at or below the rate of inflation,” said Ralph Izzo, chairman of the Board of Governors. “In the face of significant budgetary challenges, the staff and faculty of our university continue to identify new efficiencies in order to provide an affordable, high-quality education for New Jersey’s top high school graduates.” 

To further ensure that Rutgers remains accessible to all qualified New Jersey residents, the board allocated an additional $2.4 million in university funds for student financial aid, bringing the total Rutgers Assistance Grant (RAG) budget to $27.5 million. RAG awards are used to supplement state and federal financial aid offerings. Sixty-one percent of Rutgers undergraduates received some form of need-based financial aid last year (either grants or subsidized loans).

Tuition increases at Rutgers are driven by increasing expenditures (primarily personnel salaries), moderated by any increased appropriations in the annual state budget. For 2012-13, the base state appropriation for Rutgers is scheduled to remain virtually unchanged. “Reversing the prior trend of significant cuts to higher education funding prevalent from the early 2000s through 2011, along with the potential higher education bond issue, will help to keep tuition reasonable at Rutgers,” Chairman Izzo noted.

Rutgers is serving more students than ever before, with full-time equivalent enrollment up approximately 25% from fall 2000. To better serve these additional students, the university will be opening new residence facilities on the Camden and New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses this fall, while a new complex on the Newark Campus is in the design phase. The university also continues to offer new degree programs in response to student needs. Examples of recent new offerings include a BA in Human Resource Management (New Brunswick/ Piscataway); an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies (Newark); and a PhD in Computational and Integrative Biology (Camden).  

“The higher education community has been challenged to do more with less,” said finance and facilities committee chair Daniel Schulman, “and I believe we here at Rutgers have risen to that challenge, while maintaining our strong commitment to excellence, access and affordability.”

“As was the case last year, we expect Rutgers to have the lowest tuition increase of any New Jersey senior public college or university this fall,” Schulman added. The Rutgers rate increase is also expected to compare favorably with those of other major research universities nationally.

As a result of today’s action by the Board of Governors, a typical New Brunswick Arts and Science student residing on campus will pay $10,356 in tuition and $2,717 in mandatory student fees during the 2012-13 academic year, along with $10,970 in room and board charges. For this student, tuition and mandatory fees will increase by 2.5%, and room and board charges will rise by 1.9%. Specific rates for other Rutgers students may differ, as such charges vary across the university’s campuses and schools.

With the proposed increases, Rutgers will remain an affordable option for New Jersey students, with charges considerably below those of private universities and of public institutions in other states (where New Jersey residents must pay the higher out-of-state rates).

Established in 1766, Rutgers is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 58,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers is one of only two New Jersey institutions represented in the prestigious Association of American Universities.