University of Virginia Increases Tuition by $800 for In-State Undergraduate Students

April 30, 2008 — Undergraduate Virginians studying at the University of Virginia will pay $800 more in tuition and required fees next year, for a total of $9,300 per year, under a package of tuition-and-fee increases approved today by the University's Board of Visitors. Their non-Virginian classmates will pay an additional $1,850, for a total of $29,600.

The new figures, set Wednesday by the executive committee of the University's Board of Visitors, represent a 9.4 percent increase for in-state students over last year's prices for tuition and fees, while the increase for non-Virginians is 6.7 percent.

• Details on tuition and fees, featuring an audio slide show.


When the total price of education is calculated by adding room and board to the tuition and fees, the increase for in-state students is 7.3 percent and the increase for out-of-state students is 6.3 percent.

"What is significant about these rates is that they conform to the six-year plan that we developed in 2005 and revised this past fall," said Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget at U.Va.

That plan, submitted to the state as required under the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act, details how U.Va. will fulfill its public mission.

"We follow a broad, consultative process in setting tuition," Sheehy said. "When we develop the tuition structure, we have conversations with many stakeholders throughout the institution, including deans, admissions and financial aid officers, the executive management of the institution as well as students. We have conversations with student leaders, and we make a presentation to Student Council.

"Our goal throughout the process is always to keep the University's costs affordable and to remain a value. In addition, the Board of Visitors has a very strong commitment to access to the University, and our financial aid program, AccessUVa, plays a very significant role in that process."

For the current academic year, the cost of AccessUVa to the University is $59.8 million, which was revised upward from the original budget "because we were successful in recruiting a more socio-economically diverse student body, and therefore more students have qualified for AccessUVa in the current year," Sheehy said.

For 2008-09, the projected budget for the AccessUVa program will increase $2 million, to almost $62 million.

Under AccessUVa, the University meets 100 percent of students' financial need. Students whose family incomes are at or below an amount representing 200 percent of the federal poverty level will have their costs — including tuition and fees, room and board, books and expenses — met by grants from the University; others will be offered loans capped at 25 percent of the total in-state cost of four years of education at U.Va.

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