Cornell trustees announce 4.5 percent tuition increase for veterinary students

Ithaca, N.Y.

-- Tuition is going up for veterinary students, and many others, at the Cornell University.

News of the increase comes on the heels of Cornell's revelation that, like many other colleges, it is facing a deficit next year. However, through careful planning, the university says it decreased its anticipated deficit from $5 million to $1 million.

University trustees announced the increases Jan. 22 at the school's 2010-2011 budget call. They include a 4.5 percent jump for undergraduates in the university's endowed colleges, and 7.9 percent for New York state students in the school's state-supported colleges. Tuition for non-resident students in the state-supported colleges will be the same as the increases for students in the school's endowed colleges -- both will be set at $39,450. Tuition levels for graduate school students in endowed and state-supported colleges will remain level, according to Cornell.

However, profession school tuition rates, like at the veterinary school will increase. Tuition for New York residents in the veterinary program will increase by 4.5 percent to $27,700 in 2010-2011 and by 5.6 percent to $41,700 for non-resident veterinary students. Other professional school increases include 4.5 percent increases at Cornell Law School and Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Graduate student activity fees will rise from $6 to $76, as well, while undergraduate fees will increase from $204 to $216 per year.

The trustee-recommended tuition increases come about a month after a task force report in the veterinary school revealed numerous ways to cut costs, including finding a way for veterinary college instructors to recover $300,000 from teaching courses to undergraduates. Currently, seven members of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and five faculty members from the Department of Microbiology teach a combined 550 undergraduate students, but they are paid from the veterinary school budget, not the undergraduate budget, according to Cornell.