U of M implements tuition rate guarantee for new students
Planning to pay for college is about to be easier for new University of Memphis students next fall.
Incoming undergraduate students in 2019 will have a promise from the school that their tuition won’t increase for four years.
The university is implementing an optional four-year tuition guarantee program that will lock students into their rate starting their freshman year.
It will cost them a 2.5 percent increase on the front end, but also offer the ability to plan for the future with no increases in tuition if they complete their degree in four years, or eight consecutive semesters.
Other fees, including housing, will not have the same guarantee.
“This would allow students and their families to budget more consistently,” Chief Financial Officer Raaj Kurapati said.
The university’s Board of Trustees voted to approve the proposal Wednesday on the recommendation of President M. David Rudd.
Rudd said the program is a way to increase retention and graduation.
“The primary challenge is and has always been financial for our students,” he said.
Students will be able to opt out of the guaranteed rate and initial increase, but risk their tuition costs could spike year to year.
If a student opted out of the rate guarantee program, and tuition rose 2.5 percent every year, that student would end up paying about $1,000 more over four years. The university has not had such increases in recent years, however. The school froze tuition this year. Over the previous four years, the average annual tuition increase was 2.1 percent.
Kurapati said the four-year guarantee is one piece of a three-part effort to reduce cost as a barrier to education.
“Our thinking here is: How do we address access from a financial standpoint?” Kurapati said.
The board also voted Wednesday to cap the number of credits per hours the university would charge in-state students for taking each semester, no matter their course load.
Undergraduate students will be charged for a maximum of 12 credit hours, and graduate students a maximum of 10 hours, and classes taken above that would be free.
A tuition hike would likely go along with that to make it revenue-neutral, Kurapati said. The rates will be decided at the board’s spring meeting in March.
The board also lowered the cost of online tuition for students who also take classes on campus. Having a “blended” schedule, Kurapati said, costs more, and the university wants to make the classes the same expense, whether they are in person or online.
Drew Gilmore, the student representative on the board and the former student government president, said he hears from students almost daily with complaints about the cost of taking courses online when they are also enrolled in classes on campus.
“It’s something that a lot of students care about,” Gilmore, a senior, said. “They like taking classes online.”
The tuition guarantee program is also beneficial for students, he said.
“Overall it saves you money, so that’s always a good thing,” Gilmore said.
The third phase of the university’s plan to save students money addresses textbook costs. Kurapati said he wasn’t ready to bring a proposal, but updated the board on the need to lower expenses for class materials.
The average cost for a class textbook at the university, he said, is $89, or about $32 per credit hour. Kurapati said the goal is to have books in students’ hands by the first day.
“We should be the institution that says, ‘You get books when you register for class,’ ” Trustee David North said.
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer. pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.