Undergraduate Tuition to Increase by 3%

Tuition rates for undergraduate students in Bethel’s College of Arts & Sciences will increase by 3% beginning this fall. This is the lowest tuition rate increase at Bethel University in more than 30 years. The annual tuition rate for students taking 12-18 credits per semester in the College of Arts & Sciences will be $31,620.

Room rates will increase by less than 3% and board rates by less than 4% for the next academic year. As in the past, the room rate for continuing students will not increase while they are enrolled at Bethel, provided they live in campus housing every semester. The room rate for incoming students will be $5,250. Food costs vary based on the meal plan selected. The most comprehensive meal plans will cost $3,950 for the 2013-14 year. Freshmen living on campus will continue to be required to purchase one of these plans.

The Bethel Student Association (BSA) fee will remain at $140, a price decided upon by currently enrolled students. The comprehensive fee – tuition, room, board, and BSA fee – for the 2013-14 academic year will be $40,960 for full-time students in their first year in campus housing, up 3.07% from last year. Due to the frozen housing rate, continuing students will experience a comprehensive fee increase of approximately 2.7%.  

More than 90% of undergraduate students receive financial aid at Bethel through scholarships and grants, making the average net tuition price per student less than $17,500. “Our investment in institutional gift aid to students to meet the needs of families and to keep enrollment strong has grown at an average rate of $2-3 million per year since 2008,” says Dan Nelson, vice president for admissions, financial aid, and retention. “Or, put a different way, since 2008 our annual financial aid investment has risen from $16 million to $29 million. In fact, increasing levels of gift aid have helped the net cost of a Bethel education to increase at less than inflation since the beginning of the recession.”

Tuition rates for Bethel Seminary, the Graduate School, and the College of Adult & Professional Studies will be announced in the coming weeks.