Written by Habibah Abass. 

Tuition for summer classes at Northwestern University in Qatar has recently increased by more than 5,000 QR, to the dismay of many students at NU-Q. The change was made in order to mirror the cost of summer classes at Northwestern’s main campus in Evanston, according to Barry Sexton, director of business and finance and chief financial officer at NU-Q.

Previously, summer class tuition was 9,600 QR. Starting this summer, tuition will cost 14,746 QR for all courses, whether or not they involve travel. Some students were very disappointed when they heard the news.

“I understand that tuition rates increase every year but we’re just students trying to get an education, and it’s getting more difficult to do so every single year,” said Mohammad Qandas, a communication sophomore at NU-Q.

Other students were confused as to why summer class tuition increased in the first place.

“I was surprised to learn about the increase in tuition for summer classes. I heard that classes are going to be more expensive and wasn’t given a reason why,” said Aisha Javaid, a communication sophomore at NU-Q.

According to Sexton, a change in tuition rates has been in the works for a long time.

“Last year, most schools changed this to match their home campus summer class rate,” he said. “We didn’t feel that this decision allowed enough notice for our students and kept with the low rate that we had used for the past several years.  We decided to instead put it off until summer 2016.”

 Registration for summer classes is set to begin at 9:00 a.m. on March 29 and will remain open until 11:00 p.m. on March 31. There will be two travel courses offered at NU-Q this summer, along with five other courses that do not require travel, which range from travel writing to science and technology studies.

With the newly increased tuition rate however, some students won’t be opting in.

“I don’t think I will be taking a summer course this year, it’s just too expensive,” said Qandas.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly quoted Barry Sexton saying, “We decided….put it off until summer 2017.” The correct version quotes that it was put off until summer 2016.