Lowest UT tuition hike in 30 years approved
Tuition at the University of Tennessee will increase by 1.8 percent for in-state undergraduate students next year, the lowest tuition increase the university has seen in more than 30 years.
The Board of Trustees approved the increase, the lowest since 1984, along with a $2.3 billion 2017-2018 budget and a $25,667 raise for UT President Joe DiPietro on Thursday.
“This is the lowest (tuition) recommendation we’ve made in more than three decades,” DiPietro said during Thursday’s annual board meeting at the UT Institute of Agriculture. “We’re working hard to keep other fee increases low. I’m proud to be a national leader in efforts to hold down tuition increases in a time when stories of high student debt are making headlines.”
STATE FUNDING INCREASED
The budget includes $582.5 million in state appropriations, a more than 6 percent increase in state funding compared to 2016-2017, as well as $29.3 million to be used for faculty and staff salary increases across the system.
The tuition increase is expected to generate an additional $11.4 million for UT in 2017-2018.
For 2017-18, an in-state, fulltime undergraduate student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will pay combined tuition and fees of $4,332 per semester, an increase of $60 per semester — or a total percent increase of only 1.4 percent. In-state, fulltime UTC graduate students will pay $5,010 per semester, an increase of $72 per semester — or a total percent increase of 1.5 percent.
“We are committed to keeping the cost of a UTC education affordable and financially accessible to our students and their families,” said Dr. Steven Angle, UTC chancellor, in a statement Thursday. “We are able to maintain affordability and the quality of our academic programs through efficient fiscal planning with the support of the University of Tennessee system and the State of Tennessee.”
At UT-Knoxville, where tuition and mandatory fees for most in-state undergraduates is currently $12,724 per year, the increase will bring that number to $12,970 a year. Out-of-state students across the system will see a 1 percent or less increase in tuition and mandatory fees, which at UT-Knoxville would bring the current rate of $31,144 to $31,390.
Those figures do not include housing and meal plan costs, which also are going to be increasing for most students across the UT system. At UT-Knoxville, Chancellor Beverly Davenport has approved a 6 percent increase in cost for meal plans and a 2.27 percent increase in housing costs.
That means an increase of between $50 and $250 per student for housing and between $60 and $252 for the meal plan for the year.
UTC students will see a 4 percent increase in meal plans, and parking decals will increase by 1.8 percent for faculty, staff and students.
DiPietro has said in the past that allowing for small tuition increases each year is a more sustainable approach than having less frequent, but more drastic, tuition increases.
Non-mandatory fees do not always increase each year, but they are looked at each year, said UT-Knoxville Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Chris Cimino. “When you look at the total cost including all these other things, (UT) continues to be a best buy,” he said. “We’re committed to trying to make sure costs are only going up as necessary.”
UT PRESIDENT GETS PAY RAISE
The board on Thursday also approved a $25,667 raise for DiPietro, bringing his base salary to $539,011. As part of his contract, DiPietro, who has served as president since 2011, is eligible for a 5 percent raise each year so long as the board finds his performance satisfactory each year.
In 2017-2018, he also will be eligible for a performance-based bonus of up to $128,336. Nine other top administrators are also eligible for similar performance-based bonuses next year. A plan for what those bonuses, which would be awarded later in the year if the administrators meet certain performance goals, was also approved by the board Thursday.
The plan allows for bonuses of up to $322,000 among nine administrators including the chancellors of each UT campus.
Other action by the board Thursday included approval of the following items:
› Reduced the tuition rate for domestic out-of-state graduate students at UTC by about 50 percent after a study determined tuition rates were higher than peer institutions’;
› Approved tenure for dozens of faculty members across the UT system. About 50 percent of faculty members across the UT system currently have tenure.;
› Revised the university aircraft policy to allow the president to use the plane should his work interfere with previously scheduled personal plans
› Re-appointed Raja Jubran for a two-year term as vice chairman of the board;
› Approved $6 million in one-time startup funding for a new doctoral program in computational sciences and data analytics in the Bredesen Center at UT-Knoxville;
› Set capital appropriations including $90.3 million for a new engineering building at UT Knoxville, $58.5 million for a STEM classroom building at UT-Martin and $57.7 million for capital maintenance projects;
› Designated the track and field center at UT-Knoxville as the “The Boyd Family Track & Field Center” in honor of Jenny and Randy Boyd and their philanthropic contributions.
“We are able to maintain affordability and the quality of our academic programs through efficient fiscal planning ... . ” – DR. STEVEN ANGLE, UTC CHANCELLOR