<p>As expected UD has increased tuition and fees beginning this Fall semester.
For OOS students tuition is up 7% ($1,700) for a total of $25,940. The total for tuition and fees for the semester will be $27,462. Figure on similar increases on a yearly basis in the future. Delaware is not the relative bargain it was in the past. See UD's website for more details.</p>
<p>These are yearly rates, not per semester. Sorry about that.</p>
<p>An increase was of course anticipated. But they had also said that they’d review financial aid. I went to check my D’s award and could no longer find the link at My Blue Hen Home. Wonder if it’s at UDSIS, but she’s at camp.</p>
<p>@mhc48- not on UDSIS yet, at least not on mine. UD said that emails would go out to students as their financial awards were released and obviously UDSIS would reflect that. Should be soon!</p>
<p>I would not be overly optimistic about increases in merit based awards. UD has been conducting this “reassessment” yearly since at least 2006 (when my D started at UD) and the only students (that I am aware of) that got increases were on need based awards. It appears that this year UD awarded a larger number of smaller merit based awards in the range of 2K-5K/yr. I suspect one possible reason for this was an anticipated tuition increase (it has been rising 5-7% yearly since 2006). UD also will tell you that for OOS students what they charge for tuition is only 85% of the actual cost. From this perspective every OOS student gets the equvalent of a 15% scholarship for tuition right up front. I hope I am wrong about this. Perhaps they obtained money from some other sources and will be able to increase merit awards for at least some this year. Best of luck to everyone.</p>
<p>Mwallenmd is dead on. I was at my daughter’s orientation yesterday and attended a financial aid session. I asked the question about the possibility of adjustments to merit and the answer was a pretty firm “no”. Grants were made anticipating this increase, but in some very tight cases, need based aid could be adjusted. Price increases are of drag, but I don’t think 7% is out of line with other increases. We found out about W&M’s 7% increase while we were there for Day for Accepted Students. That was 7% on a higher base, so that would have hurt even more. Fortunately, W&M didn’t quite ring my daughter’s bell. BTW, the best factoid of the day at UDel was that 40% of freshmen report that they do not consume alcohol. So there is at least a statistical chance our kids will not drink away thier opportunities there.</p>
<p>Always good to look on the bright side crobinpa, but back when I was in school, a lot of my friends didn’t drink alcohol because they thought it interfered with getting high.</p>
<p>My D doesn’t drink because she thinks it will make her fat. Which it would.</p>
<p>I agree…ah, I mean, I heard that too…</p>
<p>Don’t mean to burst any bubbles or anything, but as a UD student I can say that it’s about 20% of the student body which doesn’t drink. Keep in mind, however, much of the student body which does drink, drinks a very limited amount.</p>
<p>I was a little suspicious of the data myself, but I am encouraged that there seems to be a majority who are either non-drinkers or responsible drinkers. Not to debate it, but the data that was shared at NSO indicating that 40% do not drink alcohol was from a survey done on freshmen only. They also noted that the number goes up as students get older, move off campus, etc.</p>
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<p>Don’t mean to derail this tuition hike thread, but please note that the stat above is based on what freshmen themselves report.</p>
<p>Linymom, you sound suspicious! Have you ever known an 18 year old to lie about drinking?</p>
<p>LOL, crobinpa. But more likely, that stat just came from a questionaire given out at the begininng of the year to incoming Freshman. You know what they say about lies, damn lies and statistics.</p>
<p>Haha, yeah, people seem to lie on surveys even if they are anonymous. But I’m sure there are some validity to those numbers</p>
<p>I know my kid drinks, but I think she keeps it at a reasonable level (as much as that is possible) because she doesn’t want to gain significant weight. I have no doubt (and she tells me) that she does drink, she just monitors the amount. She told me that most of her friends and floormates did drink, but there was only one who she believed drank to the point of a problem.</p>
<p>Getting back to the original discussion:</p>
<p>Mwallenmd wrote:<br>
“As expected UD has increased tuition and fees beginning this Fall semester.
For OOS students tuition is up 7% ($1,700) for a total of $25,940. The total for tuition and fees for the semester will be $27,462. Figure on similar increases on a yearly basis in the future. Delaware is not the relative bargain it was in the past. See UD’s website for more details.” </p>
<p>As the parent of an incoming freshman with three more annual increases to go, I’m wondering what the total bill will be. When we first looked at UD two years ago, it looked like OOS tuition was about $23K. Now it is as expensive as Penn State. U of MD is a better deal. I don’t think that 7% (or greater) annual increases in our depressed economy should be accepted as the norm. Penn State only increased OOS tuition by 3.5% (per Philadelphia Inquirer article). U of Maryland College Park increased OOS tuition by 5% (campus paper article).</p>
<p>The fact that cost of just about everything- energy, food, healthcare and higher education-are increasing at a rate that outpaces earnings is no surprise to anyone. Given the realities of the fiscal challenges in PA and MD their tuition rates will have no choice but rise soon, to the point where they’ll be near parity with UD. None of us are being forced to enroll their kids any any particular school- we all have a choice. If money’s a concern in anyone’s situation, students should enroll in a less expensive institution, and not lament the high cost of alternative schools. Simple as that.</p>
<p>Beyond that which rross184 has stated UD also has initiated a fairly massive building campaign in the areas of science/engineering/tecnology. This obviously will cost a lot of money. In addition UD’s relatively new President, Dr. Patrick Harker (previously Dean of the Wharton School at Penn) has initiated a “Path to Prominence” strategic plan for UD with one goal (I believe) to elevavate UD’s already very high academic status to the level of that of the premier public universities (UNC, UVA, UMich, W&M, etc.) in the country. One way to accomplish this is to attract students with the highest academic credentials possible. In order to accomplish this you have to be able to provide sufficient merit scholarship money to get these students to decide to come to UD rather than a more “prestigious” university. This money has got to come from somewhere (beyond that already available). Secondly, to elevate your “status” you need to elevate the level/quality of your faculty members. UD is also in the process of trying to attract (and has already hired some) such faculty members from other premier universities across the country. While some of these professors will be hired for endowed positions I suspect that the total cost will also require some additional funds (again beyond that already available). The bottom line to all this is that I would be very surprised if you do not see annual tuition/fees rise at a level of at least 5% over the next 4-5 years. I hope I am wrong about this but this is how I see it right now.</p>
<p>Yes, even or especially if Congress averts financial default, Federal aid to states will decrease and states will have to look for places to make up the shortfall. One of those will certainly be college tuition. It’s unavoidable whichever State’s Public University your child chooses to attend.</p>
<p>I wonder if perhaps Delaware will be in somewhat better financial condition than other states like PA, WI, MI, CA to name a few, so that if tution does not increase less than at those states’ schools, at least the increases at UDel can be used, as Mwallenmd suggests, to build up the quality and prestige of UDel, rather than just make ends meet.</p>