A typical in-state undergraduate in the School of Arts and Sciences will pay $9,546 in tuition and $2,340 in mandatory fees. There also will be a 4.4 percent increase in housing and dining rates.
That's considerably less than last year's 8.5 percent tuition increase, which came on the heels of a $35.6 million state funding cut.
This year, Gov. Corzine and the Legislature undid proposed budget cuts to higher education, but sought a 3 percent cap on tuition and fee increases.
Rutgers had intended to keep increases modest anyway, one university official said.
"We were going to keep our tuition and fee increases low because we have an unprecedented demand for financial aid," said Nancy Winterbauer, vice president for university budgeting.
Aid requests are up 29 percent, Winterbauer said.
In the $1.9 billion university budget approved yesterday, the governors also called for an additional $2 million in need-based student aid, bringing that fund up to $18 million, she said.
At the same time, Rutgers is expecting a record enrollment of more than 53,000 students this fall - an increase of more than 35 percent over the last 10 years. Courtney McAnuff, vice president for enrollment management, said the bulk of the growth came from returning students. He attributed that to the economy and better student retention. About 86 percent of Rutgers students receive financial aid.
Rutgers employees, however, might not see much of a pay raise. Scheduled salary increases were conspicuously absent Friday from Rutgers paychecks. In a July 9 memorandum to university staff, Philip Furmanski, executive vice president for academic affairs, cited the 3 percent tuition and fees cap and no state funds for salary increases. Rutgers still is in talks with its unions, according to the letter.
"Management wants to settle all their budget problems by taking it out of our payroll," said Lucye Millerand, president of the 1,900-member Union of Rutgers Administrators.
Millerand accused Rutgers officials of "going on a spree worthy of George Steinbrenner to attract executives," such as deans. She also noted board approval yesterday of a football recruiting lounge and welcome center to be built with nearly $5 million in donations.
"It's good to know in these troubled times, Rutgers has $5 million for a lounge for the football program," Millerand said.
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