The cost of education rose again for Pitt students this summer after the board of trustees… The cost of education rose again for Pitt students this summer after the board of trustees announced its 2006 fiscal year budget, including an increase in tuition rates.

How much more can undergraduates expect to pay this year?

It depends on several factors, ranging from residency to how long students have been at Pitt.

Students who have established in-state residency face a 6 percent increase, while out-of-state students are subject to a 3 percent increase. The 3 percent increase is said to result in the same amount of funds as the 6 percent that in-state students face, according to a release from the University earlier this summer.

It is also designed to keep Pitt in competition with similarly sized schools.

While residency has always been a factor in tuition rates, Pitt students who started at the University after August of 2004 face a higher tuition rate because of the differential tuition rate plan Pitt instituted last fall.

This rationale mirrors the one used to justify the residency increase.

“Implementing a differential rate structure will help the University remain competitive with its public and private peers in providing an outstanding academic experience for its students,” Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg said when the plan was first announced.

“Though our tuition is, and always will be, significantly lower than that of private institutions, we announce this increase at this time so that current and future applicants are properly informed and can plan accordingly.”

Nordenberg told attendees at the June board of trustees meeting that the University has come a long way in the last 10 years, citing both undergraduate applications doubling in number and an increased number of affiliates receiving international recognition.

“The principal lesson of the last decade is that our remarkable progress as a university has been directly tied to our demonstrated commitment to the highest levels of quality,” he said. “That commitment has been critical to our successes in attracting larger numbers of better-qualified students, in recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty members and in expanding and enhancing our programs.

“This budget positions us to sustain our momentum by making further investments in institutional quality,” Nordenberg said.

“It also is shaped by our continuing commitment to cost effectiveness and by the realization that our state appropriation remains several million dollars lower than it was just a few years ago.”

That appropriation is one of the major factors affecting rising tuition rates. The $175 million Pitt received this year is still approximately $3.5 million less than what the University was appropriated before the 2002-03 school year.

In order to help students afford the increased tuition rates, the financial aid budget was increased by nearly 10 percent, from $110 million to $127.7 million.