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Duke Trustees Approve New Tuition Rates

Total cost of attending Duke will go up 3.8 percent for undergraduates in 2015-16 

The Duke University Board of Trustees on Saturday approved a 3.8 percent increase in the total cost of attending the university for undergraduates during the 2015-16 academic year. 

Undergraduate tuition will be $47,650, a 4 percent increase, and the total cost for the next academic year, including tuition, room, board and fees, will be $63,273.

In the current academic year, which ends June 30, Duke expects to spend about $132.2 million of institutional funds to support undergraduate financial aid. The amount Duke spends on financial aid has increased 32 percent, or more than $32.4 million, since 2009-10. Estimates for financial aid costs in the next academic year will not be finalized until later in 2015, when financial aid packages for new and returning students are completed.

Half of all Duke students receive some form of financial assistance from the university. More than 40 percent receive need-based financial aid, which includes grants, loans and work-study opportunities, and the remainder are beneficiaries of honors, athletics and other scholarship programs. Duke is among the few institutions nationally committed to a need-blind admissions policy, under which the university accepts U.S. students without regard to their ability to pay for college and then meets 100 percent of their demonstrated financial need.  

New tuition rates for Duke's graduate and professional schools in 2015-16 also have been set:

-- Divinity School: $21,500 (Master of Divinity), up 4 percent over the current year.

-- Fuqua School of Business: $60,600 (daytime MBA), up 4.5 percent.

-- Graduate School: $47,590 (Ph.D. programs), up 4 percent.

-- Law School: $56,500, up 3.7 percent.

-- Nicholas School of the Environment: $34,710, up 5.5 percent.

-- Pratt School of Engineering: $48,540 (Master of Engineering Management Program), up 6 percent.

-- Sanford School of Public Policy: $41,511 (Master of Public Policy), up 3.7 percent.

-- School of Medicine: $53,575, up 3.3 percent.

-- School of Nursing: $42,336, up 4.9 percent.

In other business, the trustees had extensive discussions of the university’s strategic planning process, including the previously announced development of an academic strategic plan, as part of their annual retreat. They also met with Dr. A. Eugene Washington, who was named in January as Duke’s next chancellor for health affairs and as president and chief executive officer of the Duke University Health System.

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