Tuition increases in line with national trend
The Annual Survey of Standard Student Charges conducted by the Minnesota Private College Research Foundation showed that average tuition and fees for first-time, full-time, full academic year undergraduates at Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC) member institutions will increase by 6.5 percent for the 2007–08 academic year. These increases are comparable to those expected at private institutions nationwide and mirror the recent increases in expenditures. Institutions have experienced rapidly rising costs in the areas of employee benefits, utilities and technology and are also investing more on expanded student financial aid.
Average tuition and fees at MPCC institutions will be $26,358, a 6.5 percent increase over last year’s average. Comprehensive charges — or the combined costs of tuition and fees plus room and board — will average $33,409 for a first-year, full-time student at MPCC institutions.
Ninety-one percent of undergraduate students receive financial assistance. When grants, work-study awards and loans are included, the average “calculated aid package” (total aid divided by the total number of recipients) for MPCC students in 2004–05 was $18,350 – 66 percent of the average comprehensive charges for that year. Grant assistance is the largest category of financial aid for private college students. Eighty-eight percent of MPCC undergraduates received grant assistance averaging $10,500 in 2004–05. MPCC member institutions provided more than $253 million in grant assistance that year.
While MPCC institutions provided 78 percent of all grant aid to their students in 2004–05, this year’s legislative session has only served to highlight the need for the state to be a central partner in ensuring adequate access to higher education for students with documented financial need.