It will now cost nearly $80k to go to Duke. But is that really how much students pay?
It will cost nearly $80,000 to attend Duke University next year, with the new tuition, fees and room and board rates approved by the Board of Trustees over the weekend.
But most students likely won’t pay that sticker price because of Duke’s financial aid packages.
Undergraduate students will pay $60,435 tuition for the 2022-23 school year, a 4% increase. Housing, dining and fees for student health, recreation, student activities and other services will be $18,903.
The board also approved tuition and fees for more than 35 graduate and professional degrees, with an average increase of 3.1%.
Higher than most schools
While Duke’s cost of attendance is substantially higher than tuition and fees at any UNC System school, the private university in Durham offers financial assistance for more than half of its students through need-based aid and scholarships.
Duke’s tuition is more than eight times higher than the cost for North Carolina students to attend UNC-Chapel Hill, and more than double the cost for out-of-state students.
The average total financial aid package for first-year students who entered in 2021 and qualified for assistance was $57,726, according to the university. Duke covered the full cost of tuition for about 20% of those students.
All students from households with a total income of $60,000 or less receive a financial aid package that covers their full tuition, room, board and fees, according to the university. Duke has invested more than $1.5 billion in financial assistance for undergraduate students over the past decade, in part thanks to income generated by the university’s endowment and private donors.
Duke has committed to admitting U.S. students regardless of their ability to pay and covering all of their needed expenses as long as they qualify for financial aid. That includes money for tuition, housing and dining, as well as study abroad and summer programs.
However, Duke has also been accused in a federal lawsuit of favoring wealthy students in admissions through a price-fixing scheme.
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 11:31 AM with the headline "It will now cost nearly $80k to go to Duke. But is that really how much students pay?."
