Stanford announces 2012-13 tuition

The Stanford University Board of Trustees has approved a 3 percent increase in undergraduate tuition for the 2012-13 academic year.

Total undergraduate charges will increase to $54,506 for the 2012-13 academic year, including $41,250 for tuition and $12,721 for room and board.

Trustees also approved a 3 percent tuition increase for general graduate, graduate engineering and law students, a 3.5 percent increase for medical students, and a 3.8 percent increase for first-year MBA students.

Tuition provides half of Stanford’s general funds budget. The remainder of the general funds budget comes primarily from investment income, which is expected to rise modestly in 2013, and indirect cost recovery from sponsored research activity, which is expected to decline slightly next year.

The general funds budget helps fund, among other things, the university’s undergraduate financial aid program, salaries for faculty and staff, and the purchase of library books.

Leslie Hume, chair of the Board of Trustees, said the tuition increases would help the university meet the rising costs of salaries and health care. She noted that the 3 percent rise in undergraduate tuition was the lowest percentage increase in four decades – evidence that Stanford had tried to moderate the increase.

Hume emphasized that Stanford’s need-based financial aid program for undergraduates ensures that a family’s economic circumstances will not prevent a student from attending the university.

“Stanford has one of the most generous financial aid programs in the country and we remain strongly committed it,” Hume said. “The diversity of our undergraduate student body reflects this commitment. This year, roughly one of every six students at Stanford is the first person in their family to attend a four-year college.”

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