Coronavirus Freeze Ends: Rutgers Hikes Tuition, Fees By 2.6%

NEW JERSEY — A coronavirus-related freeze on tuition and fee hikes at Rutgers University will end next school year, administrators say.

On Tuesday, the Rutgers University board of governors approved a $4.8 billion budget that contains a 2.6 percent combined increase in tuition and fees for 2021-2022. It will include a 2.5 percent increase in tuition and 2.9 percent increase in mandatory fees for most undergraduate and graduate programs.

Tuition and fees were frozen at Rutgers last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We know that tuition increases are difficult for our students, especially after a challenging year, and we would avoid any increase if the numbers would allow it,” board chair Mark Angelson said.

Here’s what a “typical” in-state, full-time arts and sciences undergraduate student will pay next year in combined tuition and mandatory student fees, administrators said:

• Rutgers University-New Brunswick - $15,804
• Rutgers University-Newark - $15,208
• Rutgers University-Camden - $15,657

About 80 percent of students see their costs reduced by federal, state, private or institutional financial aid, including need and merit-based grants, scholarships and loans, administrators said.

According to the university:

“The estimated average net price to attend Rutgers-New Brunswick for in-state, first-year students receiving scholarship and grant assistance is 56 percent of the total cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, room, board and other expenses, based on previous years’ data. The average net price for a Rutgers-Newark student is estimated to be 49 percent of the total cost and 53 percent for a Rutgers-Camden student.”

Together, tuition and fees make up nearly 29 percent of the university’s revenues. Other sources include patient care services (21.8 percent), funds from the state of New Jersey (18.9 percent), sponsored research (13.9 percent) and “one-time federal relief funds” (1.5 percent). Miscellaneous sources – including student aid, athletics, endowment and investment income – account for 15 percent of revenues.

Nearly 78 percent of the budget funds the university’s core mission of “academic instruction, research, public service and patient care,” including compensation costs, while 14.5 percent is spent on administration, operations and maintenance. Less than 5 percent funds auxiliary expenses, including housing and dining operations and transportation costs, while athletics spending accounts for 2.8 percent of the budget, administrators said.

• See related article: Rutgers To Divest University Endowment From Fossil Fuels

“This is a prudent budget that addresses our fiscal realities,” said Michael Gower, executive vice president, chief financial officer and university treasurer.

“The fact that we are not yet back to the pre-pandemic ‘normal’ – especially with respect to revenues from housing, dining and similar sources – means that we will still have to keep careful controls on discretionary spending throughout the coming fiscal year,” Gower said.

The 2020-21 school year was the first in recent memory that Rutgers has not had a tuition increase. Every year for the past five years before the pandemic, the university had raised tuition incrementally – an average of 2.2 percent annually.

Rutgers administrators said last year that they expected revenue losses of about $67 million, on top of an estimated reduction of $88 million in state appropriations, which typically account for approximately 10 percent of the university's total revenue sources each year.

To address the budget deficit, the university implemented cost-saving measures including a hiring freeze, limits on salary increases, pay cuts for senior administrators, the suspension of new capital projects and a review of active projects, and a freeze on discretionary spending related to university operations.

• See related article: NJ Unions Say Revamped Deal With Rutgers Will Stop Layoffs

This article contains reporting by Carly Baldwin, Patch staff

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