Tuition for full-time liberal arts and engineering undergraduates at The Johns Hopkins University will increase 3.9 percent this fall, the fourth consecutive increase below 4 percent.
The increase, amounting to $1,650, will bring 2012-2013 tuition to $43,930 for the more than 5,000 full-time undergraduates in the university's Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and Whiting School of Engineering. Both schools are at the Homewood campus in north Baltimore.
The four straight increases under 4 percent for those two schools - 3.9 percent since 2010-2011 and 3.8 percent for the prior year - are the four smallest in percentage terms in 38 years, since the 1974-1975 academic year.
While restraining its tuition increases, the university has consistently been building its financial aid budget, allowing students with modest financial resources to pay considerably less than the so-called "sticker price." University aid to undergraduates in the Krieger and Whiting schools is expected to grow by another 5.9 percent, to $71.6 million, after two straight years of double-digit growth.
The university's average grant for freshmen entering this fall on financial aid - projected to be about 42 percent of the class - is expected to be about $35,000, up from $32,726 this academic year. When that is subtracted from a total tuition, room and board charge of $60,670, the average total cost of attendance for freshmen on financial aid will be $25,670. That is more than $2,000 less than three years earlier.
Room charges for the upcoming year for Krieger and Whiting students will increase 3.5 percent, from $7,408 to $7,668 for a typical residence hall double. The "anytime dining" board plan will escalate 3 percent from $5,554 to $5,722. The "sticker price" total cost of attendance, $60,670, is a 3.5 percent increase.
A 3.9 percent tuition increase will apply to the more than 300 undergraduate musicians studying full time at the university's Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood. Their 2012-2013 tuition will be $38,450, up $1,450 from the current $37,000.
The School of Nursing, with about 400 full-time undergrads studying on the East Baltimore campus, will increase undergraduate tuition by 2.5 percent. Nursing students in the two-year traditional track will be charged $35,040 for the year, an increase of $864. Tuition for the 13-month accelerated track will be $65,700 for the entire program, an increase of $1,620.
Tuition increases for next year in other Johns Hopkins programs vary widely, ranging from no increase to up to 10.3 percent.
Source: Johns Hopkins University
