Following approval by DePauw’s Board of Trustees, DePauw will be raising tuition and fees by 3.8% in the academic year 2025-2026. This increase is broken down into a total of $60,310 in tuition, $15,790 for housing and meals, and $1,120 for a comprehensive fee.
The raise comes from balancing students’ financial circumstances and the need to provide adequate student experiences amidst a “very uncertain economic situation as a country,” Vice President for Finance and Administration Andrea Young said in an interview with WGRE News on Mar. 12.
Young added that some universities have implemented tuition increases of up to 7%. She acknowledged that Purdue University, a neighbor of DePauw, had a tuition freeze. This means that Purdue students will see no increase in tuition for a set number of academic years, a scheme that has reached its 13th consecutive year. The Chief Financial Officer of Purdue told Young a year ago that their university had to cut a lot of costs to maintain the scheme. DePauw has not cut its budget for student organizations’ activities and commits to preserving the high-quality student experience, despite having been “contracting budgets” and going through capacity building, according to Young.
“To guide us in setting the price of tuition and fees, each year we assess the costs of university operations, including faculty and staff salaries, student support services, maintaining our beautiful campus and other essential activities to deliver the highest quality education and personalized experience to our students,” the Mar. 12 email sent from Student Affairs at DePauw announcing the tuition increase read.
A major portion of tuition and fees supports the salaries and benefits for faculty and staff, which makes up nearly 50 percent of the university’s expenses, according to Young.
The email says DePauw is dedicated to bridging the gap between the cost of attendance and what families can afford. The message also emphasized DePauw’s understanding of the financial commitment that students make and the university’s efforts to manage expenses and minimize the overall cost students have to pay.
DePauw provided over $65 million dollars in scholarships and financial aid this year, with 57% of the university’s budget covered by revenues other than student fees, thanks to alumni and donors. Accompanying the increase in tuition and fees, DePauw wants students to know that scholarships and financial aid for students remain a top priority of the university.
The tuition increase is not a factor in determining students’ financial aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process, said Vice President for Enrollment Management Mary Beth Petrie in an interview with WGRE News on Mar. 12. If there is not a major change in a student’s financial situation, their aid package is likely to remain the same.
“As you prepare for the upcoming academic year, we want to ensure that you have all the necessary information to plan effectively. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is open and available for students to submit to be considered for financial assistance for the 2025-26 academic year. Financial aid notifications for continuing students will be released in June of this year. If you would like to talk through your financial aid awards at any time, we invite you to contact our financial aid counselors,” the email read.
The 3.8% raise follows a 3.5% raise in the cost of attendance for the 2024-2025 year, a 3% raise for the 2023-2024 year and a 2.6% raise for the 2022-2023 academic year. Petrie said that the rising trend for tuition increase will not necessarily continue, as “the scope of what we are looking at is much bigger than three or four years.”
The email also includes a disclaimer at the end for the housing and board costs, claiming that due to federal regulations, expenses reflected in the cost of attendance from the financial aid office may differ from actual charges.
