NEW BRUNSWICK — Relax, Rutgers University students. Tuition is not going up 20 percent this fall.

University officials are scheduled to meet with student leaders Thursday in New Brunswick to clear up confusion about a financial-aid letter sent to thousands of students last week.

The form letter included a projection that the cost of attending Rutgers could rise to $29,050 during the 2012-13 school year. That number lumped together early estimates for tuition, fees, room, board, books, transportation and other miscellaneous costs, school officials said.

But some student leaders misunderstood the numbers in the letter and began to spread word via e-mail that tuition, room and board alone could be going up to $29,050 this fall — a 20 percent increase.

Not true, said Nancy Winterbauer, Rutgers vice president for university budgeting.

"No one is considering a 20-percent increase," Winterbauer said. "It's unfortunate the students who initiated this concern didn't check to see what the real facts were."

Some student leaders said the financial aid letter should have included a better explanation for the $29,050 figure to avoid creating confusion among students waiting to learn the 2012-13 tuition rate.

"It's really poor form on their part," said John Aspray, a former Rutgers student and campus activist. "I understand why students are worried."

Winterbauer said she will meet Thursday with leaders of the Rutgers University Student Assembly, a group representing undergraduates, to clarify the tuition issue.

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The Rutgers Board of Governors is scheduled to vote on tuition for the upcoming school year at its July 18 meeting in New Brunswick.

University officials traditionally do not reveal the size of the proposed increase until shortly before the vote. But Winterbauer said students should not expect a large increase this year.

"Double digit tuition increases are not under discussion," Winterbauer said.

Aspray and other student activists are recruiting students to attend the meeting to call for a tuition freeze.

The average Rutgers in-state undergraduate paid $12,755 in tuition and fees during the last school year. Once room and board were added in, a typical undergraduate living on campus paid a total of $24,017. Books, transportation and other costs often add thousands more to the overall cost of attending the state university.

Last year, Rutgers raised tuition and fees 1.6 percent for in-state undergraduates, one of the smallest increases in decades. The Board of Governors cut the proposed tuition rate in half at the last minute in an effort to help families struggling to pay tuition in the wake of the recession.

This year, many Rutgers students are concerned about a tuition hike because of uncertainty over the cost of the complex higher education restructuring approved by the Legislature last week. Under the plan, Rutgers will take over most of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey on July 1, 2013.

Rutgers' governing boards, which still must approve the merger, are still calculating the overall cost of the takeover. But it is unlikely any of the cost of the UMDNJ merger will be passed on to students during the upcoming school year, university officials said.

Related coverage:

• N.J. lawmakers pass bill for Rutgers-Rowan-UMDNJ merger