March 28, 2011

New tuition fees set; undergrad aid to increase

Tuition for full-time undergraduates at The Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus will increase 3.9 percent this fall, the third consecutive increase below 4 percent.

The increase, amounting to $1,600, will bring tuition to $42,280 for the nearly 5,000 full-time undergraduates in the university’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and Whiting School of Engineering.

The three straight increases under 4 percent for those two schools—3.9 percent this coming fall, 3.9 percent for 2010–2011 and 3.8 percent for the prior year—are the three smallest in percentage terms in 37 years, since the 1974–1975 academic year.

While holding down tuition, the university continues to build its financial aid budget, allowing it to charge considerably less than the so-called “sticker price” to students with modest financial resources. The aid budget for undergraduates in the Krieger and Whiting schools will, for the second straight year, receive a double-digit percentage boost. On the heels of an 11 percent increase, the university expects this fall to increase aid for undergraduates in the Krieger and Whiting schools by approximately 10 percent, to a total of just over $67 million.

This year, about 41 percent of Homewood undergraduates are receiving need-based grants from the university, averaging $25,595 per student. Next year’s grants are expected to average about $29,000.

Room and board charges for the upcoming year for Krieger and Whiting students at the Homewood campus will increase 3.6 percent, from $7,150 to $7,408 for a typical residence hall double and from $5,360 to $5,554 for the “anytime dining” meal plan.

A 3.9 percent increase will also apply to tuition for the more than 300 undergraduate musicians studying full time at the university’s Peabody Conservatory in Mount Vernon. Their 2011–2012 tuition will be $37,000, an increase of $1,400.

The School of Nursing, with more than 400 full-time undergrads studying on the East Baltimore campus, will increase tuition by 3 percent. Nursing students in the two-year traditional track will pay $34,176 for the year, an increase of $1,011. Tuition for the 13-month accelerated track will be $64,080 for the entire program, an increase of $1,857.

Tuition increases for next year in other Johns Hopkins programs vary widely, ranging from no increase to up to 21.2 percent. For a complete listing of 2011–2012 Johns Hopkins undergraduate and graduate tuition rates, go to tinyurl.com/JHUtuition.