Belmont undergraduate tuition is on the rise and will increase by 6.85 percent, which is 2.87 percent more than the national inflation rate.

Undergraduate tuition per hour will increase by $50. Along with the increased tuition comes a higher undergraduate fee as well as housing increases.

“Like public and private higher education institutions everywhere, we are facing the reality of rising costs,” President Bob Fisher said in a letter to undergraduate students. “We continue to work hard to keep Belmont’s cost increases at a minimum while providing a superior educational experience.”
And it’s not just Belmont.

In the past 30 years – since the parents of today’s college generation were in college – private college tuition has increased 248 percent to an average of $22,218 annually in 2006-07, according to the U.S. Education Department and the National Center for Education Statistics. At public four-year schools, tuition is much lower, but the increase is even steeper –$5,836 in 2006-07, up 268 percent from 1976-77.

According to a Marketplace story on public radio, college education costs are increasing while at the same time studies show college graduates are getting paid less.

“Colleges and universities are charging more and more for a product that seems worth less and less,” David Frum said on Marketplace. “You don’t need a college degree to figure out that cannot continue.” 

The average increase for all graduate programs is 5.5 percent, still more than the national inflation rate of 3.98 percent.