Tuition likely to rise 5.5 percent

NYU has projected a 5.5 percent increase in undergraduate tuition for the 2007-2008 academic year, bringing the total cost of attendance to about $48,763 for students living in on-campus housing, university officials said.

The cost of attendance - which for on-campus students includes tuition and fees, room and board and estimates for books, supplies and personal expenses - will be up 5 percent from the current year. The figures are higher for Tisch and Stern students, at $52,202 and $49,996, respectively.

Besides tuition, the overall projection reflects a 7.2 percent increase in fees and a 3.5 percent increase in housing costs. Although NYU used the figure $11,780 to calculate room and board, the actual cost of on-campus housing varies from $7,820 to $15,650.

Coinciding with the tuition hike, funding for student aid will increase by 6 percent, with $233 million to be provided in financial aid for the 2007-2008 year.

University spokesman John Beckman said in an e-mail that the increases take into account inflation, expansion of arts and science faculty and campus improvements - such as setting up a new facility for the journalism department, development of the 12th Street residence hall and the relocation of the Creative Writing Center.

The 7.2 percent increase in fees mostly reflects the rise of student health care costs, Beckman said. Chickering Claims Inc., which provides student health insurance, raised its insurance premium for the upcoming year. In addition, the Student Health Center plans to expand its clinician staff and its wireless internet capabilities.

The figures will still be tentative until the final approval in May, although NYU does not expect them to change. Beckman said the university will carefully consider what the tuition increase means to its students.

"There is not an administrator at NYU - or anywhere in higher education - who is not keenly aware of the burden that tuition can place on students and their families," Beckman said. "Each year as we go through the process of determining the next year's budget, we are mindful of the impact tuition can have."

According to the NYU Tuition Reform Action Coalition, an NYU club that advocates tuition stabilization, the cost of tuition at the university has increased by $8,600 since 2000.

Members of the coalition said yesterday that they were disappointed by the university's decision.

"TRAC has always recognized the university's need to control its finances and adjust costs accordingly," TRAC spokesmar and Gallatin senior Justin Restauri said. "But these regular tuition hikes, which always exceed the rate of inflation, seem unjustified without candid accounting from the administration."

Prospective students will receive these estimates in their acceptance packages later this week.