Campus growth, research expansion and rising tuition have marked the last decade at Syracuse University. Enrollment at SU has been on the rise in the past ten years, but so has the cost of attendance.

Here’s a look at how costs, spending and the student experience at SU have evolved since 2010:

Cost of attendance

SU’s cost of attendance for the 2019-20 academic year was $74,799, a 44% increase from $51,960 in the 2010-11 academic year.

A $3,300 tuition premium associated with Invest Syracuse, a five-year $100 million academic fundraising pledge, is largely responsible for the increase. Students who arrived at SU after the fall 2018 semester will pay the rebased tuition annually.

Rob Hradsky, senior associate vice president of the student experience and dean of students, said the $13,000 students will pay in premiums if they graduate in four years is worth the return.

“I think our goal is to create an unsurpassed student experience,” Hradsky said. “We believe that elevating the experience is going to create opportunities for students that they haven’t experienced in the past.”

SU charges less for tuition than comparable institutions, but SU students have paid more in total costs since the 2014-15 academic year, according to data from the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. In the 2017-18 academic year, SU charged $5,327 less for tuition than its DOE comparison institutions did on average.

SU chooses the colleges and universities to compare its data to in annual DOE reporting.

Invest Syracuse was announced in July 2017 as a plan to improve SU’s academics, student life and financial aid opportunities. Some Invest Syracuse initiatives, including the Euclid Shuttle and the Graham Fitness Center, have already been implemented.

As part of Invest Syracuse, the university also plans to improve academic and career advising, increase support for mental health and wellness and bolster its research capabilities.

Ali Harford | Graphics Editor

Enrollment

22,850 students were enrolled at SU for the 2019-20 academic year, compared to 20,407 in the 2010-11 academic year.

The student body’s demographics have remained largely stable over the past decade. The percent of women enrolled at SU dropped from 55% of the student body in 2010 to 52% in 2018.

Fifty-three percent of the student body in 2018-19 was white.

Despite a nationwide decline, SU has seen an increase in international student enrollment in recent years. International students made up 13.5% of SU’s undergraduate student body in fall 2018, according to the university’s fall census. The number of international students at SU rose to 4,123 from the 2010-11 academic year, a 60.12% increase.

Hradsky cited improvements at the Center for International Services as contributing to the increase.

“We’re working to help shift the center, so not only were we focused on immigration compliance, but also working to create community and provide greater support for international students,” Hradsky said.

Research spending

SU upped its spending on science and engineering research and development by more than $30 million from 2015 to 2018, according to Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education data. SU also tripled its spending on non-science and engineering research and development in the same time period.

In 2018, SU spent $3,117 on research per fully enrolled student. Comparable institutions spent an average of $10,516 per student the same year, DOE data shows.

The Carnegie classification designated SU as an R1 level research university first in 2015. It retained the designation in 2018 and 2019.

SU announced in November 2018 it will spend $1 million annually to support a new Center for Undergraduate Research. The initiative fulfills the goals of Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Academic Strategic Plan, an academic vision for the university, by increasing support for undergraduate student research. The plan was introduced in May 2015 to address SU’s student experience, research capacity, innovation and commitment to veterans.

Campus infrastructure

Shortly after Syverud was inaugurated in 2014, he introduced Fast Forward Syracuse, a decades-long initiative for the university that would serve as a framework for future administrative decisions.

The framework is responsible for substantial infrastructure changes, including the $62.5 million National Veterans Resource Complex, the $118 million Carrier Dome improvements and roof replacement and the student life and recreation center at the Barnes Center at The Arch, among other improvements.

Hradsky said SU has improved its efforts to include students in the planning and design process of its renovations and construction in the past few years.

“We’re looking at ways we can move forward programmatically to provide the kinds of environments and support systems students want,” Hradsky said. Ongoing renovations of the Schine Student Center, for example, were designed around student input that showed students wanted 24-hour access to the building, he said.

SU has also increased its use of surveys and other data collection measures to better understand student needs, Hradsky said.

“We want to make sure it will meet the needs of students based on all of the data gathering,” he said.

SU’s spending on campus renovations has increased since the start of the decade, data from Sightlines, a Connecticut-based education consulting firm, shows.

Financial aid

About 75% of SU students received some type of financial support in the 2017-18 academic year, according to SU’s admissions website. The university met its goal to raise $40 million for scholarships and financial aid through Invest Syracuse, SU announced in April.

SU provides financial aid for a larger percentage of its undergraduates than comparable schools do, DOE data shows. Seventy-four percent of SU undergraduates received grant aid in 2017 compared with 55% of undergraduates at comparison schools.

The percent of undergraduates receiving grant aid remained steady from 2010 to 2017. During the same time frame, the percentage of undergraduates receiving federal Pell grants dropped from 27% in 2010 to 16% in 2017. The percent of students receiving federal loans also dropped.

Published on January 12, 2020 at 11:13 pm

Contact Michael: msessa@syr.edu | @MichaelSessa3