Incoming freshmen will pay thousands of dollars more to live on campus next year due to rising costs and new fees.
For example, an in-state freshman living in Manzanita Hall, parking in Lot 59 East, and purchasing a $2,900 mandatory meal plan would pay $11,645 next year instead of $8,209 this year for the same hall and parking decal and no meal plan, according to estimates compiled by The State Press.
This would represent a $3,436, or 41.9 percent, increase.
Journalism freshman and Manzanita resident Jeff Skrzypek said he wouldn't be able to afford the bill if he lived on campus next year.
"I probably would have to get two jobs or work a lot of hours," Skrzypek said.
Next year, undergraduate tuition will rise 5 percent for out-of-state residents and 6.5 percent for Arizonans, while most parking-decal prices will double.
Residence-hall rates are also on the rise, and new on-campus residents will be required to buy a meal plan ranging in price from $1,900 to $3,500.
But the University would help students afford these increased costs, said ASU President Michael Crow.
"We'll pay whatever it takes," Crow said.
Craig Fennell, director of the Student Financial Assistance office, said in an e-mail he doesn't yet know how much next year's financial aid will increase.
"Need-based financial aid will increase as tuition increases," Fennel said.
According to Fennel's office, 33,257 undergraduates received financial aid in the 2004-05 school year. The total financial aid awarded was $379.3 million, with a $7,874 average aid package.
This year's average package "more than covered tuition" for resident undergraduates and paid for 56.4 percent of non-residents' tuition, said Cristie Norwood, associate director of SFA, in an e-mail.
But some students are still worried about the increasing costs of living on campus.
An out-of-state honors freshman residing in Best Hall, parking in Structure 1, purchasing a $3,500 meal plan and paying a new $500 Barrett Honors College fee would be charged $24,160 instead of $18,814.
This would represent a $5,346, or 28.4 percent, increase.
Architecture freshman and Best Hall resident Sylvia Calderon said she might have to take out more than the $14,000 she and her mother have already borrowed to pay the higher costs.
"It's already a lot of loans," she added.
An in-state freshmen living in Sonora Hall, parking in Lot 37, and purchasing a $1,900 meal plan would pay $12,154 instead of $9,229.
This would represent a $2,925, or 31.7 percent, increase.
Pre-business freshman and Sonora Hall resident Tyler Sandstrom said if he was a freshman next year, "I'd be a little deterred from trying to find places [to live] on campus."
But elementary education freshman and Sonora Hall resident Shauna Spisak said she wouldn't need additional financial aid to cover the higher costs.
"It'd be more like my parents' problem," she said.
Reach the reporter at grayson.steinberg@asu.edu.
