Despite protests, Rutgers board approves 3.3 percent hike in tuition and fees

By Patricia Alex, Staff Writer. The Record.

Rutgers graduate student Erik Straub challenges university President Robert Barchi and the board to not increase tuition.
Tuition and fees at Rutgers University, already one of the most expensive state universities in the country, will rise 3.3 percent this fall under a spending plan that is the first to reflect its merger with the state’s medical school.

The $3.6 billion budget for the 2013-14 school year that the Rutgers board of governors approved on Thursday reflects an increase of 61 percent over last year’s $2.2 billion spending plan, the last one the board approved before the university absorbed most of the debt-laden University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey on July 1.

Tuition and fees for undergraduates at the state university will average $13,499 for the 2013-14 school year. Room and board costs are up an average of 1.5 percent, according to Nancy Winterbauer, the university’s vice president for budgeting. Those charges vary depending on housing and meal plans but generally average $11,578, bringing the total cost of a Rutgers education for a resident student next year to more than $25,000.

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