University of Minnesota students will pay more in tuition next school year after regents in a divided vote Thursday approved the largest increase in more than a decade.
Minnesota residents taking undergraduate classes on the Twin Cities campus will pay $15,148 in tuition next school year, a 4.5% increase. Increases on other campuses range from 1.5% to 4.5%.
The increases were included in a $5 billion budget package that also calls for spending cuts and pay raises for some faculty who presented regents with data showing their wages are no longer competitive with other universities. Some areas of the university will eliminate positions when employees leave or hire new employees at lower cost. Others intend to reduce budgets for supplies, food or travel, or host fewer events.
Regents described it as a difficult budget year, and many who supported the proposal said they were trying to strike a balance that allows the U to retain instructors and provide high-quality services for students.
"I think nobody wants to raise tuition here," Regent Tadd Johnson said. "We have a responsibility to keep the university going, and we have a fiscal responsibility to make sure that it keeps moving in a good way."
Three of the 12 regents — James Farnsworth, Robyn Gulley and Bo Thao-Urabe — voted against the proposal. Some said they were hesitant to raise tuition, particularly in the face of enrollment declines on some campuses.
Thao-Urabe said she wanted to support portions of the budget proposal "and, yet, I'm really struggling with what feels to me like the significant increase for students."
Tuition rates vary based on the type of program and the location where classes are held. Undergraduate tuition for Minnesota residents attending the Duluth campus will rise 1.5% to $12,958, while tuition at the Rochester campus will increase 4.5% to $13,854. Some campuses have higher tuition for students who live in other states.
U administrators wrote in budget documents that the tuition increases were "larger than originally planned and proposed," in part because they did not receive the additional $45 million in state funding they requested this year.
They also said they hope changes to financial aid programs will help offset some of the increases for students most in need. Minnesota is launching a North Star Promise program that covers tuition for residents who attend a public school in the state if their families make less than $80,000 per year.
Assistant Budget Director Koryn Zewers told regents Thursday that the U will also use $1.4 million to help offset anticipated decreases in state aid for students whose families make between $80,000 and $120,000.
Niko Vasilopoulos, a student on the Twin Cities campus who serves as a representative to the Board of Regents, thanked U leaders for adding that aid.
"Tuition increases plus increases in housing and groceries affect students across the state," he said. "There is still work to be done, but I just wanted to highlight that addition."
