NYU Endowment Eclipses $4 Billion, Cost of Attendance to Rise 2.7 Percent in 2018-2019

NYUs+proposed+budget+for+the+2018-2019+academic+year+shows+a+3.1+percent+increase+from+the+2017-2018+budget.+

Jessica Francis

NYU’s proposed budget for the 2018-2019 academic year shows a 3.1 percent increase from the 2017-2018 budget.

Alex Domb, Deputy News Editor

In a memorandum sent to the NYU community Monday afternoon, NYU released its annual budget proposal for the upcoming 2018-2019 academic year. The proposal will be subject to approval by the Board of Trustees in June.

The budget proposal is $3.376 billion for 2018-2019 for all NYU schools other than the Langone School of Medicine, which manages its own budget. The total marks a 3.1 percent increase from the 2017-2018 total of $3.276 billion. According to the memorandum, penned by Provost Katherine Fleming and Executive Vice President Martin Dorph, the 3.1 percent increase is due to routine growth in salaries, planned expansion at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai and other university expenses.

As of Aug. 31, 2017, NYU’s endowment — an invested financial asset used to fund school resources — was estimated at $4.1 billion, up from $3.61 billion in August 2016. The endowment rose from $3.48 billion to $3.61 billion the previous year. Endowment is expected to contribute $133 million to the university’s operating budget in 2018-2019, covering approximately four percent of the budget.

Estimated cost-of-attendance for the 2018-2019 academic year will increase by a total of 2.7 percent, up from a 2.3 percent increase in 2017-2018. Cost-of-attendance estimates factors in both tuition and housing; in 2018-2019, tuition will rise by 2.7 percent. Last year tuition rose by 2.9 percent. The cost of housing will rise 2.8 percent whereas last year it rose by 0.6 percent.

“The result of restraining increases over the last three years is the lowest three-year increase in more than 20 years,” the memorandum read. “It is also considerably lower than the increases posted for the comparable period by the private colleges and universities against which we typically compete for students.”

Between August 2016 and August 2017, NYU raised a total of $648 million; from August 2015 to August 2016, the university raised $506.4 million. Last year, NYU raised $362 million of $648 million by May, or 55.9 percent of the year’s fundraising totals; this year, NYU raised $481 million by the beginning of May. If last year’s trend holds, NYU will raise over $850 million by Aug. 31.

In 2018-2019, the undergraduate scholarship aid budget will increase by 3.9 percent and stipends for graduate students will increase by 2.25 percent. The annual merit increase rate for faculty and administrators will remain at 2.5 percent.

The memorandum also listed major imminent construction projects that contribute to the budget estimate, including 181 Mercer Street, which will provide classrooms, housing and athletic facilities and is expected to be completed in fall 2021; 708 Broadway, which will house the College of Global Public Health; and two facilities at the Tandon School of Engineering.

Email Alex Domb at [email protected].