2008-2009 Tuition Costs

 First-year and Transfer Students

Tuition, fees, room and board for the 2008-09 academic year are $37,800.

The breakdown of charges is as follows:
Tuition & Fees = $30,150
Room & Board* = $7,650

See below for a Q&A on college cost with Augustana President Steven Bahls.

Continuing Students

Tuition, fees, room and board for the 2008-09 academic year are $35,721.

The breakdown of charges is as follows:
Tuition & Fees = $28,071
Room & Board* = $7,650

*For standard double room and full meal plan. Further room and board information

Students may incur additional charges for health insurance, lab fees, private music lessons, certain housing assignments and board plans.

When determining eligibility for assistance, allowances are made for the following expenses:

• Books and supplies - $900     
• Personal expenses - $800
• Travel Expenses - $400 - $800 (depending on home city and state)

Students enrolled less than 8 credit hours are billed at a single hour rate of $1300.

Applied Music Fees:

First half-hour (one credit): $200
Each additional half-hour lesson (one credit): $125

Charges will be assessed to the student's billing account each term.

Q&A on Augustana's Comprehensive Fee

Augustana President Steven Bahls responds to commonly asked questions about Augustana's comprehensive fee.

Question: Why is the increase for 2008-09 more than recent annual tuition adjustments?

Answer: Put simply, Augustana will offer more to students who start in fall of 2008 than it has to any previous class of students. During their years at Augustana, this class will experience the launch of the Augie Choice program, construction of a new student center (and other improvements to Augustana's physical plant) and continued faculty hiring and program development. These improvements, detailed below, will make a strong college even better.

Augie Choice

Augie Choice is an innovative new program through which all students can receive up to $2,000 to fund international study, an internship or research and service-learning projects during their junior or senior year. Based on a proposal by a student member of Augustana's Educational Policy Committee, the first Augie Choice funds will be awarded in 2011, when members of the Class of 2012 reach their junior year.

Physical enhancements

The Augustana Student Center, which will open before members of the Class of 2012 graduate, is the centerpiece of an effort to aggressively improve Augustana's physical plant. This new facility will promote development of a strong campus community, active student organizations and dynamic student leaders by providing flexible space for students and student organizations to use for meetings and events.

Augustana's Board of Trustees has committed to building the student center to meet the silver standard of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. This aspect of the student center project is among many efforts taking place on campus to reduce Augustana's environmental footprint. Other initiatives include the replacement of windows in the Tredway Library to improve energy efficiency and the ongoing conversion to high-efficiency lighting systems.

Additional building programs include improvements to the Carver P.E. Center, renovations to Old Main and the re-opening of a newly renovated Emmy Carlsson Evald Hall

Faculty hiring and program development

In recent years, enrollment growth and new program development have required Augustana to increase the size of its faculty. The college has reduced its student to faculty ratio from 13:1 to 11:1. Tuition dollars help Augustana enhance and improve the learning environment by providing the necessary resources to attract and retain the best faculty possible and continue to provide diverse course offerings in the smallest and most engaged environment possible.

Augustana is working to decrease its student to faculty ratio in part to accommodate the addition of Senior Inquiry programs. Under these programs, students have the opportunity to investigate a topic related to their major, guided by a faculty mentor. Students create and carry out a project that is meaningful to themselves and their studies, and has broader value to a community.

Question: What's the difference between a comprehensive fee and the old pricing structure?

Answer: In the past, Augustana assessed separate charges for tuition, room & board and a number of mandatory fees, which in recent years included the first-year reader, orientation and technology. By moving to a comprehensive fee, we become more transparent in communicating our overall cost by eliminating mandatory additional charges. We're pleased to join other leading institutions in switching from the "tuition + room & board + fees" model to the comprehensive fee.

Question: What about future increases to the comprehensive fee?

Answer: For about the last decade, Augustana's annual cost increases have been in the range of 6 - 6.5%, a rate I believe should be moderated. Beyond the cost adjustment we are making in 2008, it is my intent to align annual increases more closely to the national Higher Education Price Index. For planning purposes, the college now assumes more moderate annual increases in the range of 4% to 4.5%, assuming the higher education inflation rate remains in its current range.

The college will be able to maintain lower rates of increases in tuition for two reasons. First, the most recent increase has been sufficient to fund the new academic and student life initiatives of our strategic plan. Second, the college is in the middle of an aggressive fundraising campaign, which has already netted $80 million in gift commitments from its alumni and friends over the past several years.

Question: How does Augustana's tuition compare to other schools?

Answer: Augustana's tuition, room, board and fees, after its most recent tuition increase, is very close to the median of tuition, room, board and fees of its peer schools. Prior to the most recent tuition increase, the price of an Augustana education was somewhat below its peer schools, meaning that the college had more miscellaneous fees and charges than other schools and offered less support to students in certain areas such as international programs, service learning programs and student research. The most recent tuition increase allows us to eliminate these fees and provide more support to academic and student life programs.

Question: Why a two-tiered pricing structure?

Answer: This is mainly a question of fairness. Continuing students will pay less because these students will graduate before many of the advantages tied to the new pricing structure are realized. These include the aforementioned Augie Choice initiative, construction of a new student center (among other improvements to Augustana's physical plant) and continued faculty hiring and other enhancements to our academic programs.

Nationally, we find two-tiered pricing structures are not uncommon in higher education. At many schools, for instance, students in business and engineering programs are assessed higher charges than students enrolled in less costly programs at the same institution. The two-tiered pricing structure is a temporary arrangement which will be phased out in 2011, the year students who entered Augustana under the old pricing structure will graduate.