VCU Board Approves Tuition Increase for 2008-2009

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

The Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors today approved increases in tuition and mandatory fees for the 2008-2009 academic year.

In-state tuition and fees for typical, full-time undergraduates will increase $583 or 9.4 percent, for a total cost of $6,779.  The overall cost for in-state students living in university housing with meal plans will increase 6.8 percent, to $14,693 for the upcoming academic year.

"Despite the increase, VCU will continue to have the lowest tuition and fees among Virginia's doctoral institutions," said VCU President Eugene P. Trani. "Even so, we recognize the hardship that tuition increases place on our students and their families, and so we also have substantially increased financial aid to help offset the impact."

Student financial aid in the form of grants will increase $6.1 million for the 2008-2009 fiscal year for a total of $71 million, $36.7 million of which will come from university resources.

University officials said the increases were unavoidable because of significant reductions in state funding, increased utility costs, operating and maintenance expenses for new buildings and required additional support for counseling services.

"We understand that difficult economic circumstances required reductions in state support for VCU and other institutions," Trani said. "We believe the charges for the upcoming academic year balance the need to hold increases to a minimum with the need to provide a quality education for VCU's 32,000 students."

Undergraduate tuition and fees for out-of-state students will increase 5.3 percent to $19,724.

Tuition and fees for in-state master's students will increase 6.4 percent to $9,478; out-of-state master's costs will increase 2.6 percent to $18,211.

Tuition and fees for in-state doctoral students will increase a modest 1.6 percent, to $9,045 and .8 percent for out-of-state students, to $17,893.

The tuition and fees are part of an $809 million university budget approved by the board for fiscal year 2008-2009.