Ohio State board of trustees approves tuition increase

The Ohio State board of trustees approved a tuition increase for incoming freshmen and the school’s budget for 2025 at its regular meeting Thursday.

The university expects $4.5 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2025 beginning July 1, a $164.2 million increase over fiscal year 2024. This increase is driven partially by increased tuition rates, which will give the university an additional $56.1 million in revenue in fiscal 2025, according to the budget.

Starting in the 2024 fall semester, freshmen at OSU’S main campus who are Ohio residents will pay $13,244 in tuition and mandatory fees, a 3% increase from the previous year.

Freshmen from out-of-state can expect to pay $40,022, a 4.3% increase, and international students can expect to pay $42,950, a 4% increase.

Despite increasing tuition costs, 58% of OSU students graduate without any debt, a 10% increase from five years ago, according to OSU President Ted Carter.

The 42% of students who do graduate with debt have an average of $25,000, “less than that of an average used car,” Carter said.

“We all should be very proud of what we’re doing about affordability here at Ohio State,” he said.

Under Ohio law, public universities are required to keep tuition, dining and mandatory fees at a fixed rate for all four years of Ohio residents’ college careers. This means that incoming Ohio resident freshmen will pay the updated $13,244 in tuition until they graduate, and the tuition increase will not apply to current Ohio resident undergraduates who have their own fixed rate from previous years.

The flat tuition rates — called the Ohio State Guarantee by the university — do not apply to out-of-state or international students.

The program also does not apply to graduate students. Ohio residents in graduate school can expect to pay $13,901 starting in the fall 2024 semester, a 3% increase. Out-of-state students can expect to pay $42,740, a 3.7% increase.

The university’s housing and dining plans will also see a 3% increase across the board for incoming freshman, bumping up the cost for each plan $134$292.

The trustees also approved tuition hikes for the university’s regional campuses and its online programs.

Ohio State budget for 2025

While the university will have recordhigh revenue of $4.5 billion for 2025, its expenses are expected to exceed its revenue by $15.3 million, according to the 2025 budget approved at the meeting.

The university and its health system combined expect a loss of $126.4 million, due mostly to OSU’S planned capital investments.

Without these capital investments— which are costs associated with OSU’S construction projects—the school and its health system would have a combined surplus of $546.1 million.

The school plans to spend $1.87 billion on capital investments through 2029.

The meeting comes as the university grappled with a series of high-profile incidents over the past month, including a controversial commencement speaker, a death at graduation, and the arrests of 36 Pro-palestine protestors on campus.

Before trustees began voting, Carter addressed the protesters’ arrests, saying they were to prevent encampments, not free speech.

“The arrests that took place three weeks ago were not about limiting speech or the content of that speech. None of us wanted to see that type of action, and we tried to do everything we could to prevent that,” Carter said at the meeting.

Nhart@dispatch.com @Nathanrhart