Princeton University’s board of trustees approved Saturday a 3.9-percent increase in student fees for next school year.
An almost 7-percent increase in the undergraduate scholarship budget was also approved during the meeting to ensure that the increase in fees will not affect any student on financial aid, according to the university. Next school year’s financial aid budget will be $86.7 million versus this year’s $81 million.
The university’s undergraduate charges next year will include: $34,290 for tuition, a 3.9 percent increase from $33,000 in 2007-2008; $6,205 for room, up 3.8 percent from $5,980; and $5,200 for board, an increase of 4 percent from $5,000. The total is $45,695 for the next school year.
”While the university’s exceptional financial aid program is the most important vehicle for ensuring that a Princeton education is affordable to all the university’s students, we also recognize that the cost of a Princeton education puts substantial burdens on families that do not qualify for aid, especially those only slightly above the aid threshold,” said Princeton University Provost Christopher Eisgruber. “After reviewing projections for national labor markets, we concluded that this increase was likely to be less than or equal to the average rate of increase in the incomes of tuition-paying families at Princeton.”
The fee package was part of a 2008-2009 operating budget of $1.2 billion that was adopted by the board at the meeting.
The board acted on a proposal from Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman that was based on the recommendations of the Priorities Committee of the Council of the Princeton University Community, according to the university. Composed of faculty, students and staff, the committee has served for almost four decades as the mechanism for recommending fiscal and programmatic priorities.
The committee recommended the allocation of approximately $1.6 million to fund its highest priority new funding requests in an overall balanced budget. The committee recommended additions to the operating budget that focused on four areas of the university’s operations: health and well-being; campus safety; attracting and retaining the best students, faculty and staff; and information management.The funding will be allocated for:
• Additional staff in University Health Services to provide more medical assistants and add staff devoted to the medical demands of travel and immunizations and with expertise in substance abuse counseling.
• Providing support for sports clubs, the student-run athletic clubs that compete against other colleges and universities, and intramural events.
• Improving conditions in the laundry rooms of undergraduate dormitories.
• A new program manager for safety and security in the facilities department to increase the effectiveness with which the university manages its safety and security systems.
• An additional health and safety program manager in the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, who will address increased demands created by the growth in the university’s physical plant by the increasing complexity of research and by changes in the regulatory environment.
• A new assistant director of the Frist Campus Center who will manage the center during evenings and weekends.
• Establishing a fund for faculty members in the humanities and social sciences, guaranteeing each a minimum level of unrestricted research support for conferences, books, supplies, travel and research assistance.
• Increasing fellowship stipends for graduate students in the humanities and social sciences by 4.16 percent, or 1.16 percent above the 3 percent already incorporated into the university’s 2008-2009 operating budget, bringing 12-month fellowship stipends next year to $25,000.
• A new data analyst in the Graduate School to improve communication and streamline the processing of information relating to graduate students and their status, such as progress toward degree.
• An additional employee relations specialist in the Office of Human Resources to address issues of workplace climate and improve the university’s ability to recruit and retain staff.
• Increasing faculty and staff salary pools over last year.
• Additional staff in the Office of Information Technology to assist departments in developing Web sites.
• Additional staff to assist departments in using a software package that transforms paper documents into retrievable electronic images.
• A new records manager in the university library who will implement the university’s new records management guidelines and help departments across the campus assess their needs.
The Priorities Committee report is available for download in PDF format on the university’s Web site, as well as from the Office of the Provost.
