1.7 Percent Tuition Hike Coming to Rutgers

Rutgers - On Wednesday, Rutgers University approved a 1.7 percent tuition hike for the 2016-2017 school year, the state university announced.

With the 1.7 percent increase, a typical in-state, full-time, Arts and Sciences undergraduate at Rutgers University-New Brunswick — who lives on campus — will pay $26,632 total for the 2016-2017 school year. Of that, $14,372 is tuition and mandatory student fees alone. The rest is primarily room and board. The 1.7 percent increase works out to about $241 a year, reports NJ.com.

This is the lowest tuition hike for Rutgers in the past five years, the school said. In the past five years, the average cost of tuition has been raised 2.4 to 2.5 percent each year, depending on campus location. Compared to other state universities, Rutgers ranks low in terms of annual tuition increases.

Professor salaries are the #1 expenditure that drives tuition increases, the school said.

Sixty-two percent of Rutgers undergraduates received some form of need-based financial aid last year.