Durham, N.C. - The Duke University Board of Trustees on Friday approved a 4.5 percent increase in tuition, fees, and room and board for undergraduate students in the coming academic year. Duke's planning also calls for a 5.7 percent increase in undergraduate financial aid.

Tuition for students enrolled in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering will be $32,845 for 2006-07, up 4.5 percent from $31,420 for the current year. About 84 percent of Duke undergraduates are enrolled in Trinity College; 16 percent matriculate in the Pratt School.

The total cost to attend Duke this coming school year, including room and board, will be $43,115.

The trustees also approved new tuition rates for Duke's graduate and professional schools.

Approximately 45 percent of undergraduates receive financial support to attend Duke; about 40 percent receive need-based aid. Duke will spend approximately $58 million for undergraduate financial aid in 2006-07, up from a budget of nearly $55 million in 2005-06.

"We continue to try hard to hold down the increase in tuition and fees for our undergraduate students and their families, while assuring that we have sufficient resources to support the excellent educational programs we offer them," said Provost Peter Lange, the university's senior academic officer. "We recognize that many families have to absorb significant financial burdens to enable their children to benefit from the Duke experience. We therefore will allocate greater amounts of financial aid to support their sons' and daughters' access to Duke."

"Duke remains one of the relatively few universities that meets a student's full demonstrated need," Lange noted. "We are committed to admitting the most talented students and ensuring they are able to attend Duke. This requires an extraordinary allocation of university resources, about $58 million next year alone, but ensuring access for qualified students is a top university priority. It is for this reason that President Brodhead has also launched a three-year Financial Aid Initiative intended to raise at least $300 million of endowment to support financial aid across the university."

Under Duke's need-blind admissions policy, the university admits students based on an assessment of their academic performance and their potential and ability to contribute to the undergraduate experience. It does not consider an applicant's financial status or the ability of his or her family to pay for a college education. The university then commits to provide 100 percent of a student's demonstrated financial aid for all four years of the student's undergraduate education.

The annual average need-based grant to a financial aid recipient for the 2006-07 academic year is projected to be more than $24,000.

Duke is currently raising $300 million to increase its endowment for financial aid. The Financial Aid Initiative, announced last fall, seeks $245 million for undergraduate aid and $55 million to support graduate and professional school students. To date, more than half of that amount has been given or pledged.

When announcing the initiative, Duke President Richard H. Brodhead said financial aid is "crucial to Duke's long-term ability to attract the very best students and to make quality education affordable for all families," adding that it is a permanent and fundamental obligation of the university.

Brodhead said the initiative was also motivated by another priority: "Education helps equip the gifted kid of today to make the maximum contribution to the world we'll all live in tomorrow. When we invest in financial aid, we're investing in the development of talent, and so investing in our social future."

The university has made other recent changes to strengthen its financial aid programs, including expanding aid eligibility for transfer students, allowing academic prizes to be added to aid packages and providing greater support for students participating in summer internships, among other things.

The tuition rates for 2006-07 for the graduate and professional schools are:

Divinity School -- $14,960, up 7.5 percent over the current year.

Fuqua School of Business -- $39,350 (daytime MBA), up 4.9 percent.

Graduate School -- $32,680, up 4 percent.

Law School -- $37,985, up 5.9 percent. 

Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences -- $25,500, up 4.9 percent.

School of Medicine -- $36,880, up 5.8 percent.

School of Nursing -- $28,260, up 5.9 percent.

Final decisions on the budget, including tuition levels for Duke's schools and Trinity College, will be approved at the trustees' meeting in May.