The Board of Trustees increased undergraduate tuition and basic room and board costs for the 2009-10 academic year by a combined 3.75 percent, the lowest increase in more than 40 years, according to a letter Boston University President Robert Brown sent to students and parents Thursday.
The Board set tuition at $37,910 and basic room and board at $11,848 for the next academic year. Tuition was $36,540, and basic room and board costs totaled $11,418 for the 2008-09 academic year.
‘The worldwide economic recession is forcing all of us to consider very carefully how we allocate limited resources,’ Brown said in the letter. ‘The decision-making process for setting tuition at Boston University demonstrates the need to achieve an appropriate balance between assuring access to the institution for our students and maintaining the quality of our programs.’
BU’s financial aid and academic programs are highly dependent on tuition income, unlike other universities that depend on endowment to meet their financial needs, Brown said. The endowment makes up less than three percent of the BU’s operating budget.
Nevertheless, BU’s endowment dropped 24.1 percent to $897 million between June 30, 2008 to Nov. 30, 2008, and it is expected to drop by at least 30 percent by the end of the fiscal year in June, according to a letter Brown sent to the faculty and staff on Jan. 12. BU’s endowment was previously ranked 64th out of the 796 schools that participated in National Association of College and University Business Officers’ survey for highest endowment.
Financial aid continues to be a top priority for BU officials, Brown said in the March 12 letter. The Office of Financial Assistance provided $1.5 million in need-based appeals to ‘undergraduates whose financial circumstances have changed,’ something Brown said he is taking as ‘a bellwether of things to come.’
Brown cited freezing the salaries of senior BU administrators, restructuring several offices and ‘delaying capital expenditures’ as to ways BU has tried to save money for financial aid. Brown announced a hiring and construction freeze on Oct. 1, and he announced in a Jan. 22 town hall meeting with the faculty and staff that layoffs were also necessary.
The Office of Financial Assistance will be providing $168 million in financial aid this year, Brown said.
‘We have produced a budget that will allow us to continue key efforts to further enhance a Boston University education, to be responsive to the need for substantial increase in funding for financial aid, and to minimize the tuition increase for all our students and families,’ he said in the letter.
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