Sticking with a multiyear tuition policy adopted in 2014, the UW Board of Trustees voted today (Thursday) to increase student tuition by 4 percent in the 2018-19 academic year.
That means that undergraduate Wyoming residents will see a $5 increase per credit hour, from $129 to $134, while the cost for undergraduate nonresidents will rise from $516 to $537 per credit.
The university will continue to study the financial implications of a possible nonresident tuition decrease aimed at driving enrollment increases.
Huron Consulting Group, retained by UW to examine UW’s enrollment capacity and pricing, found that the university has sufficient space to accommodate 1,000-1,400 more students. UW’s strategic plan, “Breaking Through: 2017-2022,” calls for an approximately 1,100-student increase, to 13,500, by 2022.
To help meet that objective, Huron recommended reducing annual undergraduate out-of-state tuition from $15,480 at present to $9,500. UW officials say the issue needs further study because of the complexity of tuition discounts already offered to nonresident students, along with the number of part-time students.
The board today also approved small increases in mandatory student fees: $10 per semester for UW athletics and $6.06 per semester for consolidated student services. There are no increases for student board, room or rent.
Also going into effect this fall will be academic program fees approved by the board last November to enhance advising, career preparation and other student services. Revenue from a new common advising fee of $6 per credit hour will be used to implement a new professional advising model at the university, while expanding student success and career planning and placement services. Other program fees will be based upon the cost of individual academic programs, ranging from an additional $3 per credit hour for some nonscience courses in the College of Arts and Sciences to $25 per credit hour in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, and for classes in the visual and performing arts.
This set of fees will replace all of UW’s existing college program and course fees — there are more than 140 of them at present — with a simpler and comprehensive framework to allow students to better understand the costs of attending UW.
According to the university, even with the increases, UW’s tuition and fees for Wyoming residents will remain the lowest among the nation’s doctoral degree-granting institutions, and nonresident tuition and fees are still among the lowest in the country.