Suffolk’s tuition has dramatically increased for the 2016-2017 academic year by over 2 percent according to the Boston Globe. To put the costs into perspective, comparing the lower rates of the 2015-2016 academic year, the cost of one credit was $829 and is now $1,027. Aspiring Suffolk students must discuss with their parents and guardians about private loans, scholarships, and out of pocket options because financial aid may not be enough to support them in years ahead.

For the incoming freshmen who are looking to finally get the chance of living on-campus, they are looking to spend more than $52,000 for the year. This incredibly large sum of money covers the room and board, along with the full-time class load.

Tuition is growing at an alarming rate and even with a new payment plan option and financial aid; the cost of school will still be expensive. It also shows no signs of slowing down since tuition has continually increased every year. Anticipated tuition costs are looking to rise another 3 percent in the next four years, as reported by College Factual. The website takes into account various statistics on how they estimate how much Suffolk’s tuition will be.

This is a massive amount of money for any incoming freshmen, especially considering the majority of the classes they will be attending will not be counting toward their major. A lot of freshmen are also undeclared, so they will be throwing money at what feels like nothing.

Sophomores and juniors do not fare much better, as this upcoming increase of costs will come as a shock since the tuition already increased last year. If College Factual estimates turn out to be unfortunately true, then those students better start saving up now or finding alternative sources of financial aid.

Seniors will ultimately look at this last year as a chore to pay for, and will be hopefully free of the tuition. However, the huge overall rise in cost will make it even more of an arduous cost to pay. They don’t want to worry about paying for school when they have other aspects of their post-grad careers to pay attention to. This isn’t counting Suffolk’s always-popular Senior Week. No one wants to be worrying about money when they are supposed to have fun.

The price is not much better for commuter students looking to attend full time, as it equals to a little more than $38,000. This is also not considering how much the student is going to pay for gas or the growing MBTA prices.

This factor can also be difficult for students who live off-campus in an apartment since they will possibly paying tuition along with rent. It is all part of being an adult, but at what cost?

Part-time students, who will attend the university with less than 12 credits per semester, pay per credit. With one class being four credits, just going to one class is going to be close to $5,000. Since they are part-timers, they will receive less financial aid as full-time students, which can result in their parents paying mostly out of pocket.

Since Suffolk is a private institution, they will not offer any “in-state” tuition discounts, which is a trait shared by several other colleges and universities.

Applying for scholarships and other forms of aid is helpful, but a student does eventually have to pay the sum of those back to the institution they borrowed from. It just means more money to spend in the long run.

For all students, they are preparing for a long, expensive road ahead of them.

The imminent raises are readily available through the Office of the Bursar, as well as online through Suffolk’s website.