With Penn's recent announcement of a 3.8 percent increase in the cost of attendance for the next academic year, other elite universities have also seen similar spikes in their costs of attendance.
Penn’s Board of Trustees voted on March 2 to increase the total cost of attendance from $68,000 to $71,200 for the 2018-2019 academic year. Former Vice President of Budget Bonnie Gibson previously told The Daily Pennsylvanian in an email that Penn “does not consult with our Ivy League peers about tuition,” but other Ivy League universities and peer institutions will also see similar price boosts for the next academic year, all within a three to four percent increase.
Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and Brown University have all recently announced a rise in their undergraduate costs of attendance for the upcoming school year. Columbia University has yet to announce its cost of attendance for the next academic year.
Harvard announced that the total undergraduate cost of attendance for Harvard College will increase by three percent next year, from $65,609 to $67,580. The increase, however, is significantly lower than Harvard’s 4.1 percent increase in total costs last year. Out of all of the Ivy League institutions who have announced their changes in cost of attendance, Harvard also has the lowest tuition rate of $46,340.
At Yale, the cost of attendance will increase by 3.8 percent, from $66,900 to $69,430, for the next academic year, according to a university announcement on March 16. Tuition will also rise from $51,400 to $53,430.
Out of the seven institutions, Princeton will see the largest shift with a 4.6 percent increase. Its cost of attendance increases with undergraduate tuition rising from $47,140 to $49,330 and its total cost of attendance expected to be $70,010, according to the university's website.
Cornell announced plans to increase undergraduate tuition by 3.75 percent for the third consecutive year in a row. Tuition will rise from $52,612 to $54,584 for undergraduate students, with the exception of New York state residents who are enrolled in the contract colleges. These students will experience a tuition increase from $35,242 to $36,564.
At Dartmouth, cost of attendance will increase by 3.9 percent for the next academic year, with a tuition increase from $51,468 to $53,496, according to a university statement released on March 4.
Similarly, Brown will see a 4 percent increase in undergraduate tuition. Brown administrators voted to increase the cost of tuition to $54,320 on Feb. 11.
The Ivy League universities are not alone in their cost increases. Other elite schools, including Stanford University, recently announced tuition hikes for the upcoming school year.
Stanford's Board of Trustees approved a tuition increase within the 3 percent to 4 percent margin. The Stanford Daily reported that undergraduate tuition will experience a 3.5 percent increase in the 2018-2019 year, with a tuition increase from $48,987 to $50,703.
Although Penn’s tuition cost will escalate, the budget for financial aid will also increase. Penn will spend an extra 5.25 percent on financial aid, meaning there will be a total of $237 million allocated to students’ financial aid for the next school year. Universities like Brown and Cornell will also see a similar rise in financial aid funds.
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