Students and families entering the nation’s private, nonprofit colleges and universities this academic year experienced the lowest tuition and fee rate increases in at least four decades. Biola University experienced a historically low tuition increase for the 2013—14 academic year at 3.3 percent.

The low rate is part of a larger long-term commitment to increasing Biola’s affordability, said Biola University President Barry H. Corey.

“Addressing affordability is and will be a major emphasis in Biola's next decade,” said Corey. “There is no silver bullet. What it will take is more funds for our scholarship programs, more creative ways to schedule classes and get students through in less than four years, more online courses students can take before enrolling, more opportunities for better jobs after graduation to help pay back loans.”

According to an annual survey of its members, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) reports published tuition and fees increased by just 3.6 percent for the 2013-14 academic year. At the same time, institutional student aid budgets at private colleges increased an average of 6.9 percent for 2013—14.

Since the economic downturn, private colleges have introduced creative affordability measures to keep out-of-pocket costs as low as possible for students and families. In recent years, an unprecedented number of private institutions have cut tuition, frozen tuition, announced fixed-tuition guarantees (no increases for students while they are enrolled), or introduced three-year degree programs.

Biola has been exploring creative affordability measures in the last year. Five task forces were formed to review current practices such as the academic calendar, graduation rates, loan programs, payment plans and program delivery, and then draft creative recommendations on how to make changes in those areas that would assist with affordability.

“I am encouraged by the breadth of recommendations for dealing with affordability at Biola," said Greg Vaughan, vice president for enrollment management and facilitator of the task forces.  "Low tuition increases and more scholarships may be the more traditional approaches to addressing this issue, but when you find ways to help students graduate early or provide payment plans that reduce their reliance on credit cards or high interest loans, you’ve accomplished the same thing.  Now the task is to implement many of these great suggestions.”

For National College Affordability week in October, Biola University introduced its first-ever online giving challenge – #BiolaTen10. The social media fundraising campaign is an innovative way for the Biola community at large to make a collective impact on the financial challenges faced by students today.

For 24 hours, starting at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 10, Biola alumni were encouraged to give online toward student scholarships, as well as share a photo or post that captured their love for Biola on social media. The event was held completely online at biola.edu/Ten10 and on Biola’s Alumni Facebook Page.

Through BiolaTen10, more than $17,000 was raised to support student scholarships.

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Written by Jenna Bartlo, Media Relations Specialist. For more information, contact Jenna at 562.777.4061 or jenna.l.bartlo@biola.edu.