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Trustees approve 3.3 percent increase in fees, $1.36B budget

The University announced this morning that its Board of Trustees approved a 3.3 percent increase in undergraduate fees and a $1.36 billion budget for fiscal year 2011, which begins on July 1. The trustees also approved a 9.6 percent expansion of the undergraduate financial aid budget.

Student fees for the 2010-11 academic year will total $48,580, up from $47,020. The 3.3 percent rise in fees is slightly larger than last year's 2.9 percent increase, the smallest increase in more than 40 years.

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"We believe this recommendation strikes a reasonable balance that recognizes both the University's budgetary challenges and the need to avoid putting unnecessary burdens on tuition-paying families," Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said in a statement.

Undergraduate tuition will rise 3.7 percent, from $35,340 to $36,640. Housing costs will rise 2 percent, from $6,340 to $6,467, and board costs will increase 2.5 percent, from $5,340 to $5,473.

The $47,020 price tag for attending Princeton this academic year is similar to those at peer institutions: Undergraduates at Harvard pay $48,868, while tuition and fees total $48,843 at Stanford and $47,500 at Yale.

The undergraduate financial aid budget will grow 9.6 percent to $113.1 million. Last year, that budget expanded around 12 percent to $103.2 million.

“The University’s financial aid program is the most important vehicle for ensuring that a Princeton education is affordable to all the University’s students,” Eisgruber said in the statement.

More than 60 percent of the Class of 2013 receives financial aid, and the University expects that as much as 63 percent of the Class of 2014 will receive aid for the 2010-11 academic year. Last week, the University announced that 74 percent of the 26,166 applicants for the Class of 2014 said they intend to seek financial aid.

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The trustees are also implementing fee increases at the Graduate School. Tuition there will climb 3.7 percent, from $35,340 to $36,640, while housing and board costs will increase 2 and 2.5 percent, respectively. To accommodate the mounting fees, the trustees approved a 1 percent increase in graduate student stipends, but this is less than the 3 percent increase they approved last year.

The increases in fees and the financial aid budget come as Princeton weathers a 22.7 percent drop in the value of its endowment, valued at $12.6 billion as of June 30. That loss, in part, led University administrators to plan $170 million in budget cuts over two years.

On Saturday, the trustees adopted the $1.36 billion budget proposed to them by President Tilghman. The Priorities Committee, comprised of faculty, students and staff, submitted its budget recommendations to President Tilghman earlier this winter.

The budget includes a 1.5 percent raise, capped at $2,000, for almost all University faculty and staff. (Members of the University president’s cabinet will not receive raises.)

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"Virtually all employees will receive a 1.5 percent raise (up to the $2,000 cap) unless their performance was unsatisfactory," the University release stated.