Fordham University announced on March 31 that they would be raising tuition for the 2025-2026 academic year. The increase is the third in the last three years, and will increase housing and meal plan costs as well as tuition.
In an email sent to students and families, Vice President of Enrollment John Buckley said, “We arrived at this difficult decision to increase tuition only after a year of cost cutting and seeking efficiencies that did not have a negative impact on the student experience.”
Tuition will be increased by 4.65%, which equals an additional $3,063.48 per year. Housing will increase by an average of 4.3% depending on the room, which averages to around $1,000 a year. Meal plans will increase 4%; this leads to a maximum increase of $178.80 for the Ram Plus meal plan.
Buckley highlighted issues with the New York City economy in his email. This was also mentioned in the email announcing the tuition increase last year.
Students were overall unhappy with the increase.
“The quote, ‘Many of us are parents: We very much understand the impact of tuition increases, and are making multi-year plans to contain them,’ was the most frustrating part,” said Sage Rochetti, FCRH ’27. “Aside from, you know the abhorrent raising of tuition. Are they so incredibly dense that they think this quote is an acceptable [thing] to tack onto the end of this email?”
The email also noted the amount that the university currently spends on financial aid: “Fordham currently offers financial aid to approximately 90% of our undergraduates to soften the financial impact on students and families. We spend more than $280 million a year on financial aid and, though it is the largest item in the University’s budget, it can never be enough.”
Last year’s email said, “In order to help students and families navigate rising costs, Fordham currently offers financial aid to 89% of our undergraduate population. We spend nearly $300 million a year on financial aid, which will continue to be one of our largest line items on our budget.”
Financial aid concerns have also been on students’ minds.
“I’m incredibly grateful that I just received an additional scholarship that’s helping me with the tuition increase, but without it I definitely would have a hard time staying a float,” said Bridget Godfrey, GSB ’27. “Fordham means a lot to me as a school and community, so I’m very lucky with the opportunities given to me this semester because without them staying at Fordham would be harder. It breaks my heart to think that some of my peers this semester may be making tough calls with their education and finances because of these changes.”
Professors likewise have concerns about the tuition raise.
“In this environment where everything is already so expensive and education is becoming more of a priority especially for people of today … I’m quite disappointed to hear that.” said Sweta Sinha, an adjunct professor in the Digital Technologies and Emerging Media Department. “This is significant, this is going to impact [the students].”
The increase comes after a $100 million donation was given to the university to be specifically allocated to the construction of a new STEM building, and a hiring pause that was recently announced.
“I’ve seen Fordham raise tuition for nearly every year I have been here with little to no improvement,” said Kelly Stanton, FCRH ’25. “Instead of making us pay more money, Fordham should take a good look at themselves and see what they need to improve on before telling us to pay more.”
