At the beginning of April, DePauw students were notified of a 3.76% increase in tuition and fees for the upcoming 2026-2027 academic year, detailing $80,120 for the cost of attendance, which includes tuition, housing and meals, and a comprehensive fee. The previous year’s cost of attendance was raised by 3.8%, which followed 3.5% raise for 2024-2025 and 3% raise for 2023-2024.
Current students at DePauw are experiencing a continuous increase in tuition. In an institution where more than 90% of students receive some form of financial aid, affordability is one of the significant factors in students’ and parents’ college decision-making process.
The biggest question is, why? Why does our tuition increase every year, and where is that money spent? Andrea Young, vice president of finance and administration at DePauw, said that as operating school expenses increase due to inflation, students’ contribution through their cost of attendance must increase as well. Therefore, the increase is not an expense to cover for specific renewal or innovation, but to continue operating the school. With a five-year forecast in mind, the focus of discussion for the Board of Trustees was “Maintaining a modest rate of increase in cost of attendance that we pass on to students, with the very real challenge that it just keeps getting more and more expensive to run a college like DePauw,” said Young.
Although the ticket price of the cost of attendance has now increased to $80,000, this is not the actual amount that most students pay. 90% of students receive some kind of financial support, made possible due to the endowment that the university is awarded, largely from its alumni network. According to Young, the total endowment amounted to $1.1 billion at the beginning of the year, and the interest from the endowment is being used to support operational expenses.
The university’s commitment to affordability is reflected in the “DePauw Promise” that ensures to meet 100% of demonstrated need for all incoming students, starting in Fall 2026. This applies to both domestic and international students and is only made possible through the availability of endowment funds. “As we go forward, DePauw is committed to continuing to find ways to provide more and more financial aid and scholarships for students,” said Young.
While tuition increases are a national trend, some schools try to mitigate the impact on affordability through a tuition freeze — keeping the fee at a fixed amount for a certain period of time so that there is no unexpected increase during that period of promise. These measures are often advised by the state or local government to enhance the accessibility of higher education. In Indiana, Purdue University has recently announced its 14th consecutive year of freezing tuition and mandatory fees for students at its main campus. According to their university website, this freeze allows the base undergraduate tuition and fees for in-state residents to be under $10,000 per year. Though lower tuition fees sound desirable for students, this could potentially mean less available financial aid from the school and a substantial budget cut to make ends meet.
Current DePauw students are conflicted in their response to the school’s affordability commitment. Miyu Chida ‘29, an international student from Japan, said that the depreciation of her home country’s currency makes it more difficult for her and many other international students in a similar situation to attend universities in the US. “I know that potential tuition increase was noted in my original financial aid offer, but I wish the school would do more for the current students, too,” said Chida.
The past decade of continuous increase in tuition suggests a similar expectation for the future. Students who are concerned about their financial situation are recommended to meet with financial aid counselors to discuss and receive guidance on how they can navigate their educational expenses.
