By Sam Bates and Arden Ryan
On Feb. 1, all Carnegie Mellon undergraduate students were notified that next year’s undergraduate cost of attendance would be raised by 3.72 percent to $64,596. In an email statement, Jim Garrett, provost and chief academic officer for the university, noted that the annual tuition adjustment for the Academic Year 2024-25 was the product of an “expenditures and inflation” analysis. The annual U.S. inflation rate for 2023 was 3.4 percent, according to U.S. Labor Department data.
The tuition increase aims to protect the university’s financial health while maintaining Carnegie Mellon’s ability to “recruit and retain world-class students,” Garrett wrote in the statement.
The 3.72 percent increase is lower than the past few years, where students saw an annual 4.0 percent increase in 2023 and 2022. In 2020, tuition grew by 3.2 percent from the year before.
The Tartan talked with undergraduate students about their thoughts on the increased tuition.
Nolan Cynkar, a first-year in the Mellon College of Science, said that “it’s disappointing … [but] also necessary for the university.”
Likewise, Raashi Mohan, a senior in the School of Computer Science, noted that “CMU has a much lower proportion of alumni donations in comparison to other schools, and as such, it seems that they need to make up for that disparity with the tuition increases.” Some undergrads, however, were less content with the news.
“I don’t see what else they’re using the tuition for,” said Dani Moreno, a first-year in Dietrich College. She said she is disappointed that “it’s such a large percentage.” To her, a slow progression of “maybe 0.05 percent” annually would be easier to bear. However, “to be slapped in the face like that,” she said, in her first year here, “is very financially burdening and worrisome for the next year, especially for incoming students.”
Despite the language in the email to students stating that financial aid will increase alongside tuition, some students remained uncertain about what the tuition raise will mean for them.
“I’m on financial aid, like CMU covers a hundred percent of my needs,” said an undergraduate student who requested anonymity to keep her financial situation private. “With the increase in tuition, I don’t know if they will charge me more.”
In response to a request for comment, media relations director Peter Kerwin wrote that the increase in tuition and its impact were thoroughly researched and analyzed to account for growth in inflation and increases in prices. The university also underscored it will “continue to make investments in financial aid commensurate with the increase in cost of attendance and meet full demonstrated need for our undergraduate students receiving financial aid.”
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