Stanford University has modified their tuition policy for the upcoming 2016-2017 school year. The Stanford University Board of Trustees confirmed a 3.5 percent hike in undergraduate tuition for incoming freshmen.
In 2014, the standard charge per year for an undergraduate was a total of $58,388, with tuition costing $44,184.
For the 2016-17 and later years, the Board of Trustees has raised the total price to $66,696, which includes: tuition ($47,331), room and board ($14,601), and a mandatory health fee ($609). The new change in tuition adds up to a difference of $32,232 for four years.
In their February meeting, the Board of Trustees additionally agreed on raising a 3.9 percent tuition raise for first year MBA students, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
However, with scholarships and two-thirds of students getting financial aid, many will not be paying the total price. The expansion of the Stanford financial aid program covers the full cost of tuition for students whose parents earn less than $125,00 in combined annual income. On the other hand, students who have parents earning a combined annual income of $65,000 a year do not have to pay for tuition, room and board or mandatory fees.
The university is doing everything it can to keep a Stanford education affordable.
The Stanford financial aid program, created in 2008, not only helps lower-income families, but also aids families with high incomes. The program has reduced the amount of money expected from the university in donations from parents, which results in the higher tuition cost. Since the program’s creation, the net price, which is the price students pay after grants and scholarships, has gone down.
Recently, the Board of Trustees Chairman Steven Denning acknowledged this fact in a university press release.
“Since we instituted the financial aid program in 2008, the net price of a Stanford education, adjusted for inflation, has been flat,” Denning said in the release.
While Stanford offers need-blind admissions, where financial status is not taken into consideration in admissions, 58 percent of the undergraduate class receive either an athletic scholarship aid or need-based aid and 69 percent receive some sort of financial support.
“The university is doing everything it can to keep a Stanford education affordable,” Denning said in the press release.
Stanford promised that its financial aid program was there to ensure that as many students could stay out of debt as possible.
“Two out of three students receive financial aid from Stanford and outside sources, and most students graduate debt-free,” Denning said.
Out of the 2015 graduation class, only 22 percent of the class graduated with debt, with a median of around $16,000.
