News Release

Cost of Attending Duke to Increase 4.5 Percent

(From the Duke News Office) The Duke University Board of Trustees on February 24th approved a 4.5 percent increase in tuition, fees, and room and board for undergraduate students in the coming academic year. Duke’s planning also calls for a 5.7 percent increase in undergraduate financial aid.

Tuition for students enrolled in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering will be $32,845 for 2006-07, up 4.5 percent from $31,420 for the current year. About 84 percent of Duke undergraduates are enrolled in Trinity College; 16 percent matriculate in the Pratt School.

The total cost to attend Duke this coming school year, including room and board, will be $43,115.

The trustees also approved new tuition rates for Duke’s graduate and professional schools.

Approximately 45 percent of undergraduates receive financial support to attend Duke; about 40 percent receive need-based aid. Duke will spend approximately $58 million for undergraduate financial aid in 2006-07, up from a budget of nearly $55 million in 2005-06.

"We continue to try hard to hold down the increase in tuition and fees for our undergraduate students and their families, while assuring that we have sufficient resources to support the excellent educational programs we offer them," said Provost Peter Lange, the university’s senior academic officer. "We recognize that many families have to absorb significant financial burdens to enable their children to benefit from the Duke experience. We therefore will allocate greater amounts of financial aid to support their sons’ and daughters’ access to Duke."

"Duke remains one of the relatively few universities that meets a student’s full demonstrated need," Lange noted. "We are committed to admitting the most talented students and ensuring they are able to attend Duke. This requires an extraordinary allocation of university resources, about $58 million next year alone, but ensuring access for qualified students is a top university priority. It is for this reason that President Brodhead has also launched a three-year Financial Aid Initiative intended to raise at least $300 million of endowment to support financial aid across the university."

Under Duke’s need-blind admissions policy, the university admits students based on an assessment of their academic performance and their potential and ability to contribute to the undergraduate experience. It does not consider an applicant’s financial status or the ability of his or her family to pay for a college education. The university then commits to provide 100 percent of a student’s demonstrated financial aid for all four years of the student’s undergraduate education.

The annual average need-based grant to a financial aid recipient for the 2006-07 academic year is projected to be more than $24,000.

For more information, contact: John F. Burness | (919) 681-3788 | john.burness@duke.edu

February 24 , 2006