Ivy League school rolls out largest tuition hike in six years

Undergraduate tuition and fees to attend Princeton University will rise 4.5 percent for the 2012- 2013 academic year, the biggest increase in six years. Tuition will be $38,650, up from $37,000 in the current year, the Ivy League school in Princeton, New Jersey, said today in a statement. Room costs will increase 5.4 percent to $6,950 from $6,596 and board will climb 3.8 percent to $5,680 from $5,473. The increase in tuition and fees at Princeton exceeds the benchmark U.S. inflation measure. The consumer price index rose 3 percent in the 12 months ended in December, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Surging tuition costs nationwide over the past decade led the Obama administration last week to announce plans to help make colleges more affordable. “The University accordingly must continue to seek creative ways to find efficiencies and reduce expenditures,” Provost Christopher Eisgruber said in a statement. RELATED ITEM Top-performing 529 plans » The increase is the largest since the 2006-2007 academic year, when costs rose 4.9 percent. Last year, the school raised tuition and fees by 1 percent. Princeton's endowment was valued at $17.1 billion as of June 30, making it one of the largest in U.S. higher education after Ivy League rivals Harvard University and Yale University. Princeton was founded in 1746 as the College of New Jersey. Alumni include first lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. --Bloomberg News--