For the 2014-2015 school year, both in-state and out-of-state students at Stony Brook University will see increases in their academic tuition.

Stony Brook’s out-of-state tuition rose from $17,810 in 2013-2014 to $19,590 for the 2014-2015 school year—an increase of 10 percent, according to the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. 

For in-state students, the tuition for this school year increased to $6,170 from $5,870 in 2013-2014.

The size of this increase was controlled by the New York state initiative known as NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant program, which came into effect in July  2011 and will end after the 2015-2016 school year.

The initiative, according to the SUNY website, focuses on economic growth for New York state by providing SUNY University Centers with opportunities to gain additional funding for campus projects while limiting the amount by which schools within the SUNY system can raise their tuition from year to year.

SUNY schools can increase tuition for out-of-state students by up to 10 percent each year while tuition for in-state students can be raised by up to $300 annually. 

The out-of-state student tuition increased from $13,380 in 2010-2011 to $14,720 in 2011-2012. This trend continued with the 2012-2013 tuition increasing to $16,190. 

Meanwhile, tuition for in-state students went from $4,970 in 2010-2011 to $6,170 for the 2014-2015 school year.

According to the NYSUNY 2020 bill, the tuition increase limitations is intended to provide students with a stable annual tuition increase and end unexpected tuition spikes which several students have experienced nationwide.

“Parents and students could not predict or plan for their tuition expenditures,” Lauren Sheprow, the university’s media relations officer, said. “There were some years that tuition increased by more than 25 percent, and at times there was no increase for years.” 

Though the cost of academic tuition at Stony Brook University has been on the rise for the past several years, the university’s tuition is lower than the national average. In 2013-2014, the average tuition for four-year public universities was $22,203 for out-of-state students and $8,893 for in-state students, according to College Board.

The increase in tuition for Stony Brook University students will bring in an additional $90.5 million in revenue, according to the university’s Challenge Grant application.

“All revenue from tuition increase is being used for new faculty hires and to fund new and additional programs for our students,” Sheprow said.

Stony Brook University has hired 200 new faculty members within the past three years—more than the 147 new hires that were originally planned in the Challenge Grant application, according to Sheprow. The university plans to hire 120 new faculty members by 2016 and to increase enrollment by 1,200 more students.

The addition of new faculty is an effort to bring the university’s student-to-faculty ratio down to 22-to-1 while also improving the four-year graduation rate by eight percent, according to the application.

To counteract the increase in tuition for students, the NYSUNY 2020 plan provided that a portion of each school’s revenue be invested in financial aid. Stony Brook University created a need-based scholarship program for families with an income of $75,000 or less and a merit-based scholarship for students with a 3.0 GPA and a family income between $75,000 and $100,000. 

According to Stony Brook’s Office of Institutional Research Planning & Effectiveness, 9,126 undergraduate students out of the total enrolled 15,837 undergraduates. received federal, state, local, institutional, or another source of grant aid.