NMU Sets Fall Tuition

Northern will increase its annual resident undergraduate tuition by 2.4 percent for the upcoming fall semester. Administrators elected to move forward and set the rates despite lingering uncertainty about state funding for higher education.

Full-time undergraduates will pay $124 more per year, or $5,334. The increase for nonresident full-time undergraduates will be 3.6 percent ($304), for an annual rate of $8,742.

Tuition for resident graduate students attending full time will rise 3.5 percent ($144) per year, to $4,318. Nonresident graduate students will pay an additional 3.6 percent ($220), for an annual rate of $6,366.

At a special June meeting, the NMU Board of Trustees authorized administrators to set tuition without further board action, provided the increases fell within approved caps. The action was intended to allow NMU administrators to find out as much as possible about the impending state legislation while at the same time giving students and parents an idea of what to expect for the fall semester.

The rates set by NMU fall within the board’s established caps. The percentage increase for resident undergraduates is below the rate of inflation and consistent with tuition restraint language added to last year’s higher education bill.

“Although the state legislature has not yet finalized the higher education appropriation for fiscal year 2005, it was imperative that we set a dollar figure for tuition now so we can send out our billing statements to students and parents,” said NMU President Les Wong. “The rates are contingent upon the state’s ability to restore the promised portion of funding from last year’s cut and on tuition restraint incentives in the signed higher education bill.”

NMU officials said that the university will have to pursue additional budget-cutting measures despite the tuition increases.

Detailed tuition information can be found at www.nmu.edu/facts/tuitfees.htm .