After a yearlong tuition freeze imposed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, students attending the state’s public, non-technical colleges and universities will pay more starting with the 2024-25 school year.
The Utah Board of Higher Education approved the increases during its March 22 meeting. The state’s technical colleges did not request tuition increases.
A lot of the increase will be used to pay faculty. Lawmakers approved a 3% compensation bump for higher education employees during the 2024 session. And like most years, the state is only covering 75% of the increase. Last year was an exception with the tuition freeze and the state covered 87.5% of the cost.
The University of Utah, Southern Utah University, Utah Valley University, Utah Tech University, Utah State University, Weber State University, Snow College and Salt Lake Community College all requested tuition increases.
The board heard presentations from each college before taking a vote on the requests. While colleges were requesting to charge more, board members questioned each school’s leaders on how they were cutting costs and the return on investment. In 2018, the then-Utah State Board of Regents was criticized for not pushing back enough on tuition increase requests.
University of Utah
The board approved a 3.5% tuition increase and a 1.65% fee increase. This matches what the university’s board requested
For in-state undergraduate students, tuition will increase by $319 and fees by $19.50. This means students will pay about $10,625 annually, up from $10,287 in the current school year.
“Facing unprecedented inflation, a previous tuition freeze, and reduced state funding, our institution must adjust tuition to sustain the high standards expected by our students and the Utah community as the state's flagship R1 research university,” the university wrote in its proposal.
The University of Utah is still the most expensive public school in the state.
Utah Valley University
Utah Valley, which has the largest enrollment out of all of the state’s public colleges, is raising tuition by 3.64% and increasing fees by 5.2%.
Originally, leaders asked for a 3.95% tuition increase and a 7.01% fee increase. But the school came back with a lower counter-proposal after the state’s higher education commissioner said the request was too high.
For in-state undergraduate students, this means they’ll pay $204 more in tuition and $34.09 more in fees. That brings the annual cost up from $6,270 to $6,508.
Utah State University
The university asked for a 3.4% tuition increase.
Instead, the board approved a 3.24% tuition increase and a 1.68% fee increase. That means
in-state undergraduate students will pay $254 more next year in tuition and fees.
Weber State University
Weber State's request was the smallest percentage-wise, at 2.75% for tuition and 1.75% for fees. Both increases were approved by the board.
In-state undergraduate students will now pay $150.45 more in tuition and $16.08 more in fees. This brings the total to $6,557.19.
Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University hasn’t raised tuition in five years, until now.
The state board approved a 3% tuition increase and a 1.6% fee increase.
For undergraduate students who are residents of Utah, that means they’ll pay $180 more in tuition and $12.50 in fees.
This will bring the total cost for in-state students to $6,962 a year. During the 2023-2024 school year, those students paid $6,770.
SUU President Mindy Benson said the school could maybe go another year without raising tuition. But she said in talking with student body presidents over the years, Benson said the students preferred small, incremental increases to tuition as opposed to big spikes.
Utah Tech University
The board approved Utah Tech’s request for a 7.92% fee increase, or about $64. However, they rejected their 3.5% tuition increase. Instead, they approved a slightly smaller 3.2% increase.
Utah Tech in-state undergraduate students will pay $232 more in tuition and fees next year.
This brings the total cost to $6,307 for in-state undergraduate students.
Salt Lake Community College
Salt Lake Community College came in with the biggest request for an increase, in terms of percentages, with a proposed 4% tuition increase and a fee increase of 12.53%.
The board approved a 3.99% tuition increase and a 3.94% fee increase.
This amounts to a $170 total cost increase for students, bringing the total cost of tuition and fees up to $4,427 a year.
Snow College
The board approved Snow College’s request to increase tuition by 3.5% and fees by 6.25%.
In-state undergraduate students will pay $133 more in tuition and $24 more in fees. This brings the total cost to $4,337 a year.
