$54,780 Cost of a year at Princeton as tuition, fees to rise 4.5%

Undergraduates will pay 4.5 percent more for tuition, room, and board next year, the largest increase in six years. A $1.52 billion operating budget — up 3.9 percent from projected spending this year — was approved by University trustees in January. 

Tuition in 2012–13 will be $38,650 (up 4.5 percent); room, $6,950 (up 5.4 percent); and board, $5,680 (a 3.8 percent increase). The financial-aid office estimates that undergraduate students spend $3,500 on other fees, books, and personal expenses, so the total cost of a year at Princeton will grow to about $54,780.

Graduate-school tuition also will rise 4.5 percent, to $38,650, with housing increasing by about 3.5 percent and board by 3.8 percent.

Forty-six percent of Princeton’s budget comes from the endowment. The University will balance the budget by drawing from a special reserve fund, taking out about $4 million for 2012–13, according to Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83. He advised that the University “should eliminate its annual draw on one-time funds as soon as possible.” He also expressed concern about strains on future budgets from ­medical-benefit costs and from a projected slowing in research funding. 

The new budget’s financial-aid allotment, $116 million, is 5.6 percent higher than the projected figure for the current year. Graduate-student stipends will grow by 3.2 percent.

The budget includes $500,000 to expand University services, including increasing the dispatch capacity of the Department of Public Safety; adding staff in the Office of International Programs to help students overseas; improving maintenance of the fitness equipment in the Stephens Fitness Center in Dillon Gym and expanding the operating hours; and broadening background checks for new staff members.