Undergraduate tuition will increase by 3.5 percent, $1,280, for the 2016-’17 academic year, University President Michael Lovell announced Monday.
This is the second consecutive year undergraduate tuition will see a 3.5 percent increase. Based on the undergraduate student demographics from the fall semester, the additional income will bring in more than $10.5 million.
“Marquette faces the same financial pressures and ever-increasing costs that virtually any enterprise faces today,” said John Lamb, treasurer of the university and vice president for finance in an email. “There are costs associated with maintaining the overall excellence our students have come to expect – and should expect – in the highly competitive landscape of higher education.”
Lamb said a top priority for the university is to ease the burden on students and their families. One way Marquette hopes to achieve this is by increasing the pool of available financial aid for students.
“It is a source of pride for (Marquette) that approximately 99 percent of our undergraduate students receive some financial aid,” Lamb said. “In all, Marquette provides approximately $120 million per year in private aid and scholarships.”
Tuition rose on an overage of 4.91 percent over the past decade. Students experienced the largest percentage hike during the 2008 recession, with an increase of 12.4 percent.
In addition to the tuition increase, the student health fee saw a $20 increase from $300 to $320. Carolyn Smith, the executive director of the medical clinic, said the health fee entitles students to free and unlimited visits with a physician, free core laboratory studies like a mono test and reduced prices on non-core services.
“Health fee increases are utilized to support inflationary medical costs (supplies, vaccines and medications) and are used to enhance and expand services for students, including wellness activities such as free wellness classes, the after-hours nurse hot-line and decreased STI testing costs,” Smith said in an email.
The tuition increase will only effect full-time students. Lovell said prices for summer school and part-time students will not increase in the next academic school year. The graduate, dentistry and law students will also see a tuition increase in the 2016-’17 academic year.
Graduate, dentistry and law students will see different tuition changes as follows:
- Graduate School and Graduate School of Management students: per-credit increase of $25
- Graduate College of Education students: per-credit increase of $20
- Dentistry students: annual tuition increase of $2,260
- Full-time law students: annual tuition increase of $1,260
“We know that our students and their families are making significant sacrifices,” Lamb said. “We are committed to keeping those sacrifices as manageable as possible in the future.”
