After raising the cost of tuition by 4.01 percent for the 2012-13 academic year-which then stood at $43,140-and 3.6 percent for 2013-14, the Boston College Board of Trustees has agreed to raise overall tuition costs for the 2014-15 year an additional 3.6 percent, to $46,670.
The University has also announced it will increase need-based financial aid by 6.7 percent to $103.5 million-compared to last year’s 7.9 percent to $97 million-in an effort to dissolve more financial barriers to attendance for students across a diverse set of socioeconomic backgrounds.
“The 2014-15 budget reflects our goal of limiting tuition increases while providing the best possible educational experience for our students,” said Executive Vice President Keating in a statement to the Office of News and Public Affairs. “It addresses our priorities and builds on the existing strengths that help to distinguish Boston College among the nation’s best universities.
The Dartmouth College Board of Trustees approved a 2.9 percent increase in the college’s tuition to $46,763; George Washington University increased its tuition by 3.4 percent to $48,700; and Boston University increased its tuition by 3.7 percent to $45,686 for 2014-15.
According to the College Board, the national average for tuition increases-including room and board-across all four-year private universities in the U.S. for the 2013-14 academic year was 3.7 percent.
“Mindful of the sacrifices that parents make in choosing a private education for their children, we remain focused on identifying cost-savings and promoting campus-wide efficiencies to ensure that our tuition dollars are directed toward the teaching and research of our faculty and the student-formation programs that support our mission,” Keating said to the Office of News and Public Affairs.
According to U.S. News and World Report, BC is currently ranked 36th among the publication’s annual list of top 50 “Great School, Great Prices” national universities-a list calculated based on academic quality and net cost of attendance. The University was also ranked 24th on the Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list of top 50 “best value” private universities in the U.S.
In an effort to combat rising expenses, the University also currently utilizes two programs-the Operational Efficiency Project (OEP) and Administrative Program Review (APR)-that were created to find ways of cutting costs and more efficiently run University activities. Launched in 2006 as part of the University’s Strategic Plan, APR is run out of the department of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment (IRPA) that promotes quality improvement and strategic thinking through the examination of a specific department’s operations.
The Board of Trustees has announced that the operating budget for 2014-15 will be $916 million, which entails an additional $7 million allocated for supporting academic priorities enumerated in BC’s 10-year Strategic Plan, which was released in 2006. The 2014-15 operating budget reflects an increase from the $886 million the Board of Trustees set for the 2013-14 budget and the $862 million set in 2012-13.
The University’s Strategic Plan is a 10-year initiative aimed at making additional faculty hires, funding construction and facilities renovations, and expanding academic programs and initiatives.
BC retains its stance as one of only 21 private colleges and universities in the U.S. that remains need-blind throughout the admissions process and meets the full demonstrated institutional need of accepted students as indicated through the FAFSA and CSS PROFILE.
According to the University’s financial aid webpage, 70 percent of all current students receive financial aid in some capacity, with an average need-based financial aid package totaling $35,000.
