Starting Fall Semester 1999, it’s going to cost a little bit more to attend BYU, especially in the Spring and Summer terms.
The administration announced Monday that tuition rates will undergo their slight annual raise to accomodate the increasing costs of operating the university.
“Historically, tuition rates are raised almost every year because there are increasing costs involved in operating BYU,” Administrative Vice President Brad Farnsworth said.
Undergraduate fall and winter tuition will increase $55, or 4 percent, bringing the total per-semester undergraduate cost to $1,415. Advanced-standing (graduate) student tuition will be increased to $1,665 from $1,600, and tuition at the Law School and Graduate School of Management will cost $2,665, an increase of 4.1 percent.
Undergraduate spring and summer fees will increase from $520 a term to $625. For graduate students, the cost will rise from $800 to $830 dollars.
As always, tuition for students who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will remain one and a half times the rates listed for church members.
The most significant thing about the 1999-2000 tuition hike is that rates for spring and summer terms will undergo a dramatic 20.2 percent increase as part of the administration’s ongoing effort to increase summer enrollment.
The 1993 administration under Pres. Rex E. Lee determined that the best way to up summer enrollment was to offer lower tuition, Farnsworth said.
After several years experimenting with the lower spring/summer rates, however, it has become apparent that the low rates are not the most effective incentive during those less-busy times. Instead, the administration hopes that offering scholarships will do more to get people to consider taking spring and summer classes.
“The university has focused on increasing the amount of scholarship money available during spring and summer terms,” Farnsworth said. “We have been very pleased by the number of students who have been able to use these funds.”
“We’re restoring tuition back to the normal relationship, so the cost to the student could be just about the same but now more money is coming from scholarships rather than having lower tuition,” Farnsworth said.
The scholarship office will determine the method of increasing the scholarship awards to spring and summer students.
Tuition changes are traditionally announced every November, Farnsworth said. Budget meetings with the commissioner’s office and the Board of Trustees determine the total cost of running BYU for the coming academic year, and then tuition is set at the necessary rate to account for increasing costs. Requests for appropriations from the Church are also determined at that time.
The relationship between the amount of tithing money and the amount of tuition money used in funding BYU remains the same through every tuition increase, Farnsworth said.
