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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
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Date: January 26, 1998
3.7 Percent Increase in Student Fees Lowest in Three DecadesPRINCETON, N.J. -- The operating budget adopted by the Trustees of Princeton University this weekend increases student fees for the 1998-99 academic year by 3.7 percent, the lowest percentage increase in over 30 years. The $572 million budget is projected to be in balance.
The new budget also substantially improves the financial aid program offered to undergraduates, by eliminating the loan expectation on families with incomes below the national median and by reducing the effect of home equity on calculations of families' ability to pay. (See below for links to companion documents.) The trustees also approved a set of initiatives related to undergraduate instruction and advising and to graduate student support.
The trustees acted on budget recommendations prepared by the University's Priorities Committee -- a group of faculty, students and staff -- and approved by the University president. In their report, the committee emphasized the importance of maintaining and improving access to a Princeton education for students from lower- and middle-income backgrounds. Through the decade of the 1990s, this commitment has led Princeton to reduce the rate of increase of tuition and fees, in an effort to align increases in the cost of its education with the growth in family income.
Princeton's undergraduate charges will increase to $30,531 next year. Tuition will be $23,820, an increase of 3.9 percent; the room charge will be $3,077, and the board rate will be $3,634, both up 3.0 percent. Graduate tuition also will be $23,820; room and board charges will vary according to students' residential and dining plans, but will increase 3.0 percent.
The just approved financial aid initiative will be phased in over four years and is expected to cost approximately $6 million per year by the time it reaches a steady state in fiscal year 2002. This figure equates to an increase in scholarship expenditures of roughly 20 percent.
The trustees also approved a set of initiatives intended to reduce the average size of language classes, to provide additional academic advising for undergraduates, to offer additional computing support for students in the residential colleges, to augment support for graduate students, and to expand the program of training in English as a second language for international graduate students who will teach. Together, these initiatives will add $363,000 to the operating budget.
In formulating their recommendations, the Priorities Committee began with a projected $1.7 million surplus for fiscal year 1999, attributable in large part to the success of Princeton's Annual Giving effort, budget cutbacks over the past two years, and sponsored research budgets that proved healthier than anticipated. Despite the fact that the longer-term budget forecast is less optimistic -- deficits are projected for the three years following 1998-99 -- the Priorities Committee concluded that the University's overall financial situation is strong enough to enable an aggressive response to the perceived need for an improved financial aid program, in particular.
The extraordinary success of annual fund-raising efforts associated with the University's ongoing 250th anniversary campaign has provided pivotal resources for innovations in support of teaching and research, according to University Provost Jeremiah Ostriker. "More than any other single element, the success of Annual Giving during this campaign has enabled us to undertake new initiatives, from desktop computers for faculty and staff to this year's new financial aid plan," he said. "Annual Giving has given us the financial margin to do new things."
As examples, Ostriker cited the effort to provide a high standard of desktop computing capacity for all faculty and for those staff requiring access to central administrative systems, as well as a new project to create a single database of all library holdings, which will replace the current mix of card catalogs and various online resources. In both instances, Annual Giving proceeds have paid the initial startup costs, which were higher than could be absorbed by existing administrative budgets, then monies within those existing budgets have been allocated toward maintenance of the new systems.
Companion documents:
Entire press kit and charts
Press release: Princeton Changes Its Financial Aid Policies
Fact sheet: Questions and Answers
Press release: 3.7 Percent Increase in Student Fees Lowest... (this document)Back to Princeton news
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