Cost of Attending Duke to Rise 3.9 Percent

The Duke University Board of Trustees on Saturday approved a 3.9 percent increase in undergraduate tuition, room and board in 2011-12.

The trustees also approved the creation of a master's program in management studies.

The trustees set undergraduate tuition for students enrolled in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering during the 2011-12 academic year at $40,665, a 4.3 percent increase. About 82 percent of Duke undergraduates are enrolled in Trinity College; 18 percent matriculate in the Pratt School.

The total cost to attend Duke this coming school year, including room, board and fees, will be $53,905, a 3.9 percent increase over 2010-11.

The trustees also reaffirmed Duke's commitment to a need-blind admissions policy, under which the university accepts students without regard to their ability to pay for college and then meets 100 percent of their demonstrated financial need. Financial aid packages combine grants, loans and work-study opportunities after assessing what parents and students can reasonably contribute. More than 40 percent of students receive need-based financial aid, in addition to those who receive assistance through honors, athletics and other scholarship programs.

In recent years, Duke has taken a number of steps to make education affordable to students across the economic spectrum, including significantly enhancing its financial aid program to assist lower- and middle-income families by reducing expected family contributions and loans. (For more information about Duke's financial aid program, see http://dukefinancialaid.duke.edu/.)

In 2010-11, Duke expects to spend about $110.2 million of institutional funds to support undergraduate financial aid, up from $99.8 million in 2009-10. Estimates for next year's financial aid costs have not yet been finalized.

The trustees also approved new tuition rates for Duke's graduate and professional schools in 2011-12:

-- Divinity School: $18,400, up 3.7 percent over the current year.

-- Fuqua School of Business: $50,300 (daytime MBA), up 4.9 percent.

-- Graduate School: $40,720 (Ph.D. programs), up 4 percent.

-- Law School: $48,800, up 4 percent.

-- Nicholas School of the Environment: $29,800, up 2.8 percent.

-- Pratt School of Engineering: $40,710 (MEM program), up 5.9 percent.

-- Sanford School of Public Policy: $36,598, up 3.5 percent.

-- School of Medicine: $46,261, up 4 percent.

-- School of Nursing: $46,620, up 9.3 percent.

In other business, the trustees approved a 10-month Master of Management Studies Degree. The program, which had been operated on a trial basis for the past two years by the Fuqua School of Business, is designed to provide essential business skills to recent college graduates with no prior career experience.

MMS: Foundations of Business consists of 15 business courses (a total of 43 credit units) taught over five six-week terms. Courses focus on finance, accounting, marketing, strategy, operations, decision analysis and management. All courses are taught by Fuqua faculty.

"In contrast to Fuqua's MBA programs, the MMS curriculum is a 10-month program aimed at students at the bachelor's, master's or doctoral levels with little or no professional business experience," said Fuqua Dean Blair Sheppard. "Course work covers material designed to help graduates land entry-level positions in finance, marketing, consulting or general management.

"As the trial period demonstrated, today's rapidly changing and globally distributed economy has a great demand for graduates who are liberally or scientifically trained and also possess a solid understanding of business fundamentals."

The employment report for the most recent MMS class shows 80 percent of students seeking employment had received a job offer three months after graduation, a percentage similar to that experienced by many MBA programs.

"For a new program, in its pilot year, in the middle of an extremely tight job market to enjoy this type of success is a clear indicator of the overall demand on the employer side for the MMS degree," said Kathie Amato, Fuqua's associate dean for MMS.

The trustees also continued their discussion and review of plans for a Duke campus in the city of Kunshan, China, which Duke officials hope to open in late 2012. The board approved a number of steps that will allow Duke in March to submit to the Chinese Ministry of Education a formal application to open the campus.

In addition, the trustees heard from Graduate School Dean Jo Rae Wright, who provided a detailed analysis of ways Duke can enhance the diversity of the graduate student population, best prepare graduate students for the demands of a changing workplace, and other topics. The Graduate School at Duke enrolls about 2,300 Ph.D. students and 600 research master's students in more than 60 programs throughout the university.