Tuition for full-time undergraduates at The Johns
Hopkins University will increase 3.8 percent
next fall, the smallest percentage growth in 35 years for
the university's two largest undergraduate
schools.
The $1,450 increase will bring tuition to $39,150 for
the more than 4,700 full-time
undergraduates in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences
and the Whiting School of Engineering.
The percentage increase is the smallest since the 1974-75
academic year.
The 3.8 percent increase also applies to students in
the university's two smaller undergraduate
schools. It will be the lowest in 10 years in the School of
Nursing's traditional program, bringing
tuition for more than 350 undergraduates there to $31,920,
an increase of $1,176. Next year's tuition
for more than 300 undergraduate musicians at the Peabody
Conservatory will be $34,270, an increase
of $1,270, the lowest percentage increase in at least 31
years.
All four schools, keenly aware of added financial
pressure on students and families in a time of
recession, have sought to minimize the tuition increase,
cutting their budgets in many areas while
increasing undergraduate financial aid, the schools' deans
said. As a whole, the university has frozen
hiring and will impose a yearlong salary freeze starting
July 1. University executive officers, including
divisional deans and vice presidents, are voluntarily
reducing compensation by 5 percent on July 1;
much of the savings will be directed to undergraduate
financial aid.
"The recession has made this a more difficult time for
our undergraduate students and their
families, even some who do not qualify for financial aid,"
said William R. Brody, president of the
university. "Johns Hopkins is responding. Even though they
were already facing extremely tight
budgets, our deans and their schools have worked very hard
to trim expenses and postpone projects
so that we can hold next year's tuition increase to the
minimum amount possible."
In addition to the universitywide pay and hiring
freezes, individual schools are choosing to adopt
measures such as departmental operating budget cuts or
freezes, cuts in services, postponement of
renovation projects and adoption of new money-saving energy
conservation programs, said Deans Adam
Falk of Arts and Sciences, Nicholas Jones of Engineering
and Martha Hill of Nursing, and Director
Jeffrey Sharkey of the Peabody Institute.
At the same time, however, the schools face severe
challenges in other budget revenue areas
besides tuition. They expect declines in investment income
over the next few years because of the
stock market decline. They are coping with cutbacks of 15
percent this year in Maryland's state
funding program for independent higher education, with cuts
possible again next year. The schools also
face continued uncertainty in federal research funding and
philanthropy. Like most employers, Johns
Hopkins also must pay more costly employee health benefits
and higher utility and technology costs.
"We know that these are very difficult times for our
families," Falk said, "and we have gone to
enormous lengths to restrain spending and hold down tuition
for next year. But one thing we will not
cut back is the quality of a Johns Hopkins education. The
tuition approved by the trustees ensures
that we can maintain that quality."
Vincent Amoroso, director of the Office of Student
Financial Services at the university's
Homewood campus, said that students' eligibility for
financial aid would increase with the adjusted
tuition rates. For many undergraduates, he said, financial
aid cuts the actual cost of attending Johns
Hopkins to well below the "sticker price."
"This year, about 39 percent of Homewood
undergraduates received need-based grants from
university sources, averaging $27,350 per student and
totaling almost $48 million," Amoroso said.
The deans said they believe that the recession and
increased unemployment will change the
financial circumstances of some undergraduate students and
their families, requiring additional
financial aid resources.
"One of our top priorities is to help, to the extent
that our resources allow, our returning
students and their families cope with new financial
difficulties," Jones said. Additional financial aid
remains one of the university's highest fund-raising
priorities.
At the School of Nursing, Hill said, "Affordability is
a critical issue for our school, where nearly
three-quarters of our undergraduates are on some form of
financial aid. More than 80 percent
already have a first bachelor's degree in another field, so
most have considerable student loan debt by
the time they graduate as nurses," she said. "We work very
hard to keep our tuition rate within the
reach of our students, and this year's relatively small
increase in a tough economic environment
reflects that philosophy."
At Peabody, Sharkey said, "We have always known that
music students face more of a struggle
to pay for their education and are doing everything we can
this year to keep our costs down and our
financial aid up. We believe the quality of our education
in music at Peabody to be among the best in
the world and are dedicated to maintaining that quality
into the future," he said.
Room and board charges for the upcoming year for
Krieger and Whiting students at the
Homewood campus will increase 4 percent, from $6,616 to
$6,882 for a typical residence hall room
and from $4,960 to $5,158 for the "anytime dining" meal
plan.
Tuition increases for next year in the university's
graduate and doctoral programs vary, mostly
in the range of about 4 percent to about 6 percent.
For a complete listing of 2009-2010 Johns Hopkins
undergraduate and graduate tuition rates,
go to:
webapps.jhu.edu/jhuniverse/information_about_hopkins
and click on "JHU Facts and Stats."