Tuition and mandatory fees for entering students enrolled in theTrinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineeringwill be $29,345 for 2003-04, up 5.4 percent from $27,844 for the currentyear. Eighty-five percent of Duke undergraduates are enrolled in TrinityCollege; 15 percent matriculate in the engineering school.
The total cost to attend Duke this coming school year, including roomand board, will be $37,555, an increase of 5 percent.
"We have worked hard to limit the increase in tuition and fees for students and their families, and we feel it falls toward the middle of therange of our peer institutions," said Provost Peter Lange, the university's senior academic officer. "Through our continuing commitment to fullfinancial aid, we are seeking to assure that these increases do notadversely affect the ability of those in need of financial assistance toattend Duke. The increases will help assure that we can sustain our forwardmomentum in attracting stronger faculty and students, despite ourrelatively smaller endowment as compared to many of the schools with whichwe compete."
The trustees in December reaffirmed Duke's commitment to itsneed-blind admissions policy and meeting the full demonstrated financialneeds of students who enroll. Under the policy, Duke admits students basedon an assessment of their academic performance and their potential andability to contribute to the undergraduate experience -- and withoutconsideration of the financial status or ability of an applicant's familyto pay for a college education. The university then commits to provide 100percent of a student's demonstrated financial aid for all four years of thestudent's undergraduate education.
About 43 percent of Duke undergraduates receive financial assistancefrom the university. The annual average grant to a financial aid recipientfor the 2002-03 academic year was more than $19,500.
After many years of planning, Duke and 28 other colleges anduniversities nationwide -- including Amherst College, Cornell University,Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, Wake Forest University andYale University -- will implement a new approach this fall to determinestudents' financial needs and provide financial aid.
"This new methodology, called the Consensus Approach to NeedAnalysis, is designed to make higher education more accessible. Our goal isto reduce confusion among applicant families while, on average, reducingparent contributions," Lange said. "At Duke, we believe that this newapproach offers additional financial support to families with need, whileunderlining the university's commitment to accessibility."
The university expended nearly $37 million for financial aid in2002-03, an increase of 8.3 percent from the prior year, and that figure isexpected to rise above $40 million in 2003-04. Duke also began last yearproviding financial aid to international students who qualified forneed-based aid.
"These increased allocations to financial aid come at a time when weare tightening our administrative and faculty budgets," Lange said. "Meanwhile, we are committed to shifting the necessary resources tocontinue funding the priorities identified in the university's strategicacademic plan, 'Building on Excellence.'"
Despite these fiscal challenges, the university will not increase theamount that financial aid recipients are expected to provide through summerearnings, work-study programs or low-interest loans. This is the thirdconsecutive year that Duke has held constant the "self-help" portion of theundergraduate financial aid award.
"This commitment will have the effect of increasing the qualifyingstudents' grant aid in relation to the overall cost of attendance," Langesaid.
The trustees also approved tuition rates for Duke's graduate andprofessional schools.
The largest rise is in the Graduate School, which will increase itscombined tuition and registration fees by 10.9 percent in its Ph.D.programs, primarily to increase the resources available to fund competitivegraduate awards. Most graduate students will see a corresponding increasein their fellowships as tuition levels rise. Master's degree students inthe Graduate School, who are generally not fully supported throughfellowships, will face a more moderate increase of 2.8 percent.
The tuition rates for 2003-04 for the graduate and professional schools are:
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