Last week, BYU administration announced that tuition would raise starting fall semester 2013. According to a press release by the university, “Brigham Young University will implement a three-percent increase across all tuition categories.” That calculates to an increase of 70 dollars per semester for full time LDS students. While it may mean that students will be paying more for their education, BYU is still one of the best buys for private universities in the nation.
University Spokesperson Todd Hollingshead said, “We look at the rising cost of education and we see the needs that we have to make sure we give our students…(like an) excellent and superb education. And we just look at the areas and realize that we are going to have to have an increase so we can continue to cover those costs to provide a superb education.”
Tuition costs nationwide are on the rise, but BYU continues to provide college education for a low price. According to the Associated Press, average tuition at private colleges is almost 30 thousand dollars per year and the yearly average tuition at public schools is more than $8,000. Tuition for a full year at BYU will be $4,850 dollars.
“We try to keep it as minimal as we can. Comparatively, it is quite a minimal increase if you look across the nation at tuition increases. We try to make sure our students continue to have a very affordable education,” said Hollingshead.
Some students don’t mind the tuition increase very much. They equate it to an additional cell phone bill, internet payment, text book per semester. BYU freshamn Shanti de Ruyter said, “I love that BYU’s tuition is so low. My school’s completely paid for by a FAFSA grant because it is so low. I don’t think $75 is horrendous.” BYU senior Chris Card feels that it will not matter much. “I think it’ll affect (us) marginally. Three percent is usually the rate of inflation so I kinda expect that to go up,” says Card.
The national tuition increase average is 3.9%, so BYU’s rate is almost a whole percent lower. This will also be the fourth consecutive year that BYU tuition increases will be lower than pre-recession rates.
