Carnegie Mellon boosts tuition to $64K per year

Undergraduate tuition will soon cost more than $64,500 at Carnegie Mellon University under new rates for the 2024-25 academic year.

That will boost overall undergraduate charges by 3.72%.

The new $64,596 yearly tuition was adopted by school trustees and outlined in a message to the campus this month from Provost James H. Garrett Jr.

Under the new prices, a standard double room will cost $10,816 and a traditional first-year meal plan will cost $7,350 — pushing overall costs along with other fees and estimated expenses to between $86,812 and $88,886, depending on what year a student first enrolls.

That full price does not factor in financial aid.

Garrett said the university will make investments in financial aid that are commensurate with the increase.

In his note to campus, Garrett cited expenditures and inflation. He said the administration sought a rate that “supports the financial health of the university while being able to recruit and retain world-class students.”

“We recognize the financial investment that students and their families make by choosing to attend CMU,” he said. “As an institution, we are fully committed to delivering an exceptional educational experience while making it as affordable as possible.”

Additional information about costs for specific programs and graduate level education are available on the university’s financial services website.

With the enrollment market soft, regional public universities and small private colleges face excruciating pressure to hold prices flat or close to it.

Elite institutions are in a stronger market position, and prices continue to escalate.

In fact, Bloomberg reported last year that rate increases were moving yearly costs on Ivy League campuses toward what it called “another hold-on-to-your-mortarboard mark: $90,000.”

It said many elite private universities already charge upward of $80,000 a year.

The University of Pennsylvania’s website estimates the yearly undergraduate total cost tops $89,000 for the 2023-24 academic year, including $58,620 for tuition.

Northwestern University’’s 2023-24 academic year comes at a total estimated undergraduate cost of $91,290, according to its website.

Carnegie Mellon’s Pittsburgh campus enrolls a total of 14,425 students, of which 7,175 are undergraduates.