Cornell Announces Tuition for 2024-25

The key action at the March 21-22 Board of Trustees meeting in Ithaca was not a proposed divestment in Gaza; it was the annual setting of the parameters for the 2024-25 budget.

Undergraduate tuition for 2024-25 will be $68,380, an increase of 4.9%, for unaided out-of-state students attending any of Cornell’s colleges, and for out-of state students attending the statutory colleges – the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (including the Dyson School), the College of Human Ecology and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

New York state residents attending statutory colleges pay $46,056, an increase of 4.9%. The amount of the discount for New York residents was based upon the projected appropriations that Cornell will receive through the State University of New York.

Cornell announced that the room rates in the dorms will increase an average of $734 and that the cost of a full meal plan will increase $191 for the year (a 2.7% increase.).

Three other key budget parameters were not announced – the average wage for graduate students, the average increase in non-academic staff salaries, and the average increase in faculty salaries.  This is difficult to budget because there are on-going negotiations between Cornell and the newly recognized Cornell Graduate Students United.

The budget assumes that when these levels of tuition, housing and dining cost increases are factored into Cornell’s financial aid formula, there will be sufficient funds available to meet 100% of student needs. Other than foreign students, no admitted students will be denied financial aid.

Cornell’s “To Do The Greatest Good” campaign is targeting to raise $500 million in scholarship support, and $376 million of new funds have been raised to date. The $500 million would allow an additional 1,000 students to receive financial aid while decreasing average student debt at graduation by 25%. Another recent policy change allows all aid-eligible students to participate in academically enriching summer experiences without worrying about meeting summer earnings expectations. The undergraduate financial aid budget has grown more than 40% in the last five years, outpacing tuition increases.

Meanwhile, the budget projects that Cornell will grow by 650 students during the five year period, with the North Campus Expansion project more than offsetting that growth with 2,000 new dorm beds.

The final factor in the budget is the payout from shares of the Cornell endowment. Each share will be paid $2.75 up from $2.65 this year. This payout represents 3.78% of the February 2024 endowment share price.  This payout is based upon a seven year average of the earnings from Cornell’s investments. The actual impact on each department or program will be determined by the number of endowment shares held by each unit during the academic year.

Central administrative overhead costs, including Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), are then funded by taking 10 per cent from each college’s total tuition revenue.

Having gained approval of the Trustees, Cornell’s budget experts will use its approved budget parameters to determine the actual budgets of each school and college and then for each department. By this summer, supervisors will be able to determine individual salaries based upon the allocation of specific funds.

Cornell projects that students on financial aid whose family circumstances remain constant will not experience any increase in the cost of attendance, thanks to offsets from Cornell grants.