DETROIT – University of Detroit Mercy announced Tuesday that it would "significantly lower its published tuition price to give more precise cost information to students and families."
The goal is to encourage more academically talented students and their families to take a closer look at Detroit Mercy, the university announced.
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Here is the full news release from the school which indicates undergraduate tuition will drop back to a 2008 cost:
Detroit Mercy’s Assure Your Boundless Future Tuition Reset will reset undergraduate tuition from $41,158 to $28,000 beginning the fall of 2018. The new price of $28,000 gives students and their families a more accurate cost of attendance at Detroit Mercy before scholarships and financial aid are awarded.
Over the last two years, Detroit Mercy has conducted extensive research on its tuition and the cost of other university competitors, as well as surveyed hundreds of prospective students and parents. Those analyses indicated that a tuition reset will not only increase prospective students’ awareness of the transformative, high-quality value of a Detroit Mercy education, but also attract and enroll even more academically talented students who may not have considered applying because of the published tuition price.
“By resetting our tuition to a price from a decade ago, we are responding to the concerns of students and families who want assurance that a high quality college education is affordable and attainable,” said Dr. Antoine M. Garibaldi, president of Detroit Mercy. “I know from conversations with parents and school officials that students are interested in Detroit Mercy, but the previous tuition price prevented them from seriously exploring the university.”
As Detroit Mercy’s tuition for 2018-2019 returns to its 2008 cost, the University will continue to provide generous scholarships and financial assistance to students. The Assure Your Boundless Future Tuition Reset will be available to all new and current students enrolling in Detroit Mercy’s traditional undergraduate programs beginning in the fall of 2018.
This initiative comes at a pivotal time for students interested in obtaining a high quality, Catholic, values-based education. Research indicates that from 1982 to 2012, the cost of college throughout the U.S. increased more than 1,120 percent. Moreover, studies show that U.S. college graduates incurred an average debt of $37,172 in 2016.
For those reasons and others, Detroit Mercy believed that a bold move was necessary to help students make well-informed decisions about the colleges they were considering.
Detroit Mercy’s transformational educational and extracurricular experience will remain exactly the same. Additionally, this reset will assist both “high-need” and “low-need” students and families better understand the full-time undergraduate rate they will pay before scholarships and financial aid are awarded.
“The Assure Your Boundless Future Tuition Reset will also make it possible for federal and state grant dollars to go even further for students who qualify for the maximum need-based aid,” said Deborah Stieffel, Detroit Mercy’s vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs. “And the tuition reset also makes Detroit Mercy a more viable option for students who do not qualify for need-based aid and are often forced to overlook private Catholic higher education simply because of the high ‘sticker price,’ ” she added.
This reset comes at a perfect time in the history of the university and city. Over the last two years, Detroit Mercy has had record enrollment numbers, a higher academic profile for the entering class in 2017-18 and an increase in many national rankings. This includes a #19 rank on the 2018 U.S. News and World Report’s Annual Best Regional Colleges in the Midwest. Detroit Mercy is the only Michigan school ranked in the top 20. Additionally, the University earned a No. 12 rank for Best Colleges for Veterans in the Midwest Region and was ranked No. 32 nationally for Best Value Schools.
Furthermore, since 2011, the university’s endowment has doubled and on Oct. 26, Detroit Mercy celebrated the public launch of a $100 million fundraising campaign, which has raised more than $78 million thus far. Also in October, Detroit Mercy, along with The Kresge Foundation and the City of Detroit, broke ground on the Ella Fitzgerald Park and HomeBase Community Center in Northwest Detroit, which will house Live6 Alliance, an economic development organization co-sponsored by the university that is focused on the revitalization of the McNichols-Livernois neighborhood in Detroit.
“It is our expectation that this reset, coupled with other positive university initiatives on and around our campuses, will attract even more students who not only want to attend the University but also be a part of Detroit’s renaissance and make a lasting impact on the community,” Garibaldi said.
The Assure Your Boundless Future Tuition Reset is part of a larger, comprehensive series of initiatives at Detroit Mercy that will:
- further demonstrate renewed commitment to innovation;
- reinforce the university brand to help build the boundless future of students; and
- help more academically talented students and their parents better understand published tuition rates in order to make a well-informed decision to enroll at Detroit Mercy.
To learn more about the Assure Your Boundless Future Tuition Reset, please visit http://udmercy.edu/assure, call 313-993-1245or email admissions@udmercy.edu today.
About University of Detroit Mercy
University of Detroit Mercy is Michigan's largest and most comprehensive Catholic university, sponsored by the Religious Sisters of Mercy and the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Today's University boasts the heritage of two founding institutions: the University of Detroit, founded in 1877 by the Jesuits, and Mercy College of Detroit, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1941. The two consolidated as University of Detroit Mercy in 1990. Detroit Mercy offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and professional academic degrees and programs through seven schools and colleges. For more information, please visit www.udmercy.edu.