NEWARK — Students at Ramapo College and the College of St. Elizabeth will get a reprieve this year. But undergraduates at the rest of New Jersey's four-year colleges will have to dig a little deeper to pay their tuition bills as they return to campus this semester.

Across the state, cash-strapped students called on their colleges to freeze tuition. Only Ramapo, a public college in Mahwah, and the College of St. Elizabeth, a private Catholic college in Convent Station, agreed to keep this year’s tuition at last year’s rates.

Undergraduates at New Jersey’s other four-year colleges and universities will pay between 1.3 percent and 4.7 percent more during the 2014-15 school year, according to a Star-Ledger survey of two dozen public and private schools.

Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken remains the state’s costliest university. Incoming students will pay $45,366 for annual tuition and fees, 3 percent more than last year.

The sticker prices at the state’s other private colleges range from $26,750 for tuition and fees at Bloomfield College to $45,064 at Drew University, according to the survey.

Among the public colleges, annual tuition and fees range from $10,853 at New Jersey City University to $15,648 at New Jersey Institute of Technology, according to the survey.

The Star-Ledger survey included all 24 of the state’s traditional, four-year colleges and universities. Thomas Edison State College, for-profit colleges and online schools that charge varying rates or do not have traditional semester structures were not included in the survey because their tuition systems make it difficult to compare rates.

The survey looked at annual tuition and mandatory fees for new in-

state undergraduates. The figures do not include room, board, books, transportation and other fees that boost the total cost of attendance by another $10,000 or more.

Georgian Court University, a private Catholic university in Lakewood, had the steepest tuition increase in the state this year. The school, which recently went co-ed, raised tuition and fees 4.7 percent to $30,998, a nearly $1,400 increase.

The hike comes two years after Georgian Court froze tuition for a year.

Sister Rosemary Jeffries, the university’s president, said Georgian Court increased its scholarships and grants and remains committed to making its tuition affordable.

“GCU remains one of New Jersey’s most affordable private colleges,” Jeffries said. “In recent years we’ve undertaken cost-cutting and cost-containment initiatives to minimize increases. In 2012, for example, we froze tuition, and this year we announced a hefty tuition break (up to 52 percent) for graduates of nearby Brookdale Community College.”

Officials at other colleges said they were forced to raise tuition this year because of salary increases built into union contracts and the rising cost of health care for employees. The public colleges have also had to turn to students to make up for the steep decline in state funding over the past few decades.

New Jersey’s tuition rates remain well above the national average. The average U.S. public college charged $8,893 and the average private college charged $30,094 last year, according to a survey of annual tuition and fees by the College Board, a nonprofit industry group.

Several New Jersey college officials said judging schools by their tuition rates can be misleading. Only a fraction of students pay the full sticker price at most colleges because a high percentage of undergraduates receive scholarships and grants.

David Muha, a spokesman for the College of New Jersey, said costlier colleges may also be a bargain if students graduate in four years instead of having to stick around for another semester or two to complete their degrees due to overcrowded classes.

The College of New Jersey charges $15,024 in tuition and fees, making it the second-costliest public college in the state.

“The cost that matters most is the total cost to earn the degree,” Muha said. “TCNJ has the fifth highest four-year graduation rate among all public institutions, which can not only save students money in the long run, but get them started in their careers and earning a paycheck more quickly.”

At Rutgers University, the state’s largest university, students on the main campus in New Brunswick-Piscataway will pay $13,813 in tuition and fees. That is $314, or 2.3 percent, more than last year.

Once room and board are added in, the average student living on the New Brunswick campus will pay $25,561 to attend Rutgers.

Rutgers was among the schools that tried to hold its tuition hike near or below the rate of inflation, which is currently hovering around 2.0 percent.

But many students were still disappointed their tuition continues to rise. At Rowan University, senior Jalina Wayser was among the students calling for the school’s board to hold down tuition.

Rowan froze tuition last year. But this year, tuition and fees are going up 1.9 percent to $12,616.

"Even if a tuition increase is $300, that could mean the difference between someone going to school or dropping out," said Wayser, a member of New Jersey United Students, a statewide student group campaigning for more financial help for students.

New Jersey is considered a high-tuition, high-aid state. That means its colleges charge above-average tuitions, but the state offers generous financial aid packages to low- and middle-income students. Those packages include state Tuition Aid Grants, known as TAG.

But many students say tuition is outpacing financial aid.

“I get a Pell Grant and TAG and I still have to take out $3,000 in loans a semester,” said Wayser, 20, a political science and sociology major from Passaic.

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