SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – The University of Notre Dame is raising undergraduate tuition by 3.7 percent to $47,929 next school year. 

The university says with average room and board rates of $13,846, the annual cost of attending Notre Dame will be $61,775. 

The school said the 3.7 percentage increase in tuition and fees is the lowest at Notre Dame since there was no increase in 1960. Tuition had increased 3.8 percent for three straight years.

The Rev. John Jenkins, the university president, thanked parents in a letter, saying he knows paying for college involves significant sacrifice for families. He also wrote that one of the ways to measure the value of a Notre Dame education is the university's first-year to second-year retention rate of 99 percent and four-year graduation rate of 90 percent.