By Mary Whitfill, News Staff

The net cost of attending Northeastern will increase 2.9 percent next year, and university leaders said at a budget rollout presentation Wednesday that financial aid allocations will increase at double the rate of tuition.

On Wednesday, the Student Government Association (SGA), Graduate Student Government and the Office for Student Affairs hosted a presentation to introduce the upcoming budget to students. These groups partnered with the university’s senior leadership to present the information, including Senior VP of Enrollment Management and Student Life Philomena Mantella and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thomas Nedel.

It is the sixth consecutive year that financial aid allocations will double the rate of tuition and fees, in line with President Joseph E. Aoun’s philosophy to increase aid and tuition costs rather than freezing tuition.

“As we think about developing a budget, as we think about managing the university’s resources, both the short and long term goals of the institution are grounded in what some of the external impacts are from the economy,” Nedell said. “College affordability is in the press a lot and is certainly a cause that has been taken up in Congress and in the media, so there is a lot of focus on tuition increase and net costs for students.”

Earlier this year, the US Department of Education released a scorecard that showed Northeastern costs more than Harvard University, Boston College, Tufts University, Emerson College, Suffolk University and Boston University when accounting for tuition and monetary aid.

The financial aid allocations for 2014 total $204 million, a nine percent increase from the budget in the 2013 fiscal year. This total does not include federal loan packages or federal funds. Additionally, students will see a 3.7 percent increase in the sticker price of tuition, the lowest year-to-year increase in 30 years.

“What this means is that the net average increase for undergraduate tuition will be 2.9 percent when we take into consideration the tuition increase and the investment in financial aid,” Nedell said. “That is very, very low from a historical perspective and we are pleased to be presenting you with what we think is good news.”

Mantella said this increase in financial aid funding would develop what the “Northeastern Promise.”

“We will continue what we introduced last year as an enhanced Northeastern Promise,” Mentella explained. “This is us, when you enter Northeastern as an undergraduate, committing to eight semesters of the level of aid at which you entered. In addition, if you have need-based aid as a part of your award, that will increase with the rate of tuition in future years.”

In response to a budget priorities survey sent to students by SGA at the beginning of the semester, the NU budget team adjusted a section of the budget to meet student priorities and accomodate student life needs.

These priorities include the growth of the Digital Media Commons on the second floor of Snell Library and the renovation of the first floor in the summer of 2013; expansion of NU Wave wireless services to all residence halls within three years; expanding food service options in International Village to include additional gluten free and Middle Eastern options; and continued investment in facilities for intercollegiate and intramural programs.

The capital budget approved for fiscal year 2014 totals $66 million.

“The board approved this particular budget two weeks ago,” Nedell said. “They approved a capital budget to fund things like the digital media commons, other projects and some of the things you don’t get to see as visibly like the roofs, the boilers, the elevators.”