Tuition is expected to go up as UVU is considering three different plans that would increase tuition between $69 to $126 for residents and $212 to $386 for non-residents.
Meeting on Feb. 22, representatives of UVU’s administration met with the UVUSA Student Council for comments and feedback on three proposals that the University is considering. The proposal included proposed increments of 2.47%, 3.92%, or 4.5%. Each proposal would go to funding specific projects the University is seeking to complete.
“We want to make sure we are maintaining affordability for our students,” Scott Wood, director of budgets at UVU, told the council during his presentation. “That’s one of our priorities as an institution.”
Tuition is part of how the University funds itself. Along with that, the University also receives money from the state legislature. During the 2023-2024 academic year, UVU’s operating budget stood around $329 million dollars, with about 54% of that coming from appropriated funds. Tuition is used for funding not covered by the legislature.
Initially, UVU had asked for $6.1 million from the legislature; however, as the legislature has deliberated, the University has gradually cut back their asks to about $3.7 million dollars. Asks have included projects for program expansion and operation and increases to “institutional and workforce readiness.”
Anything that the legislature does not fund are up to the University to make up the difference in tuition, which difference is still facing the consequences of the tuition freeze that put many organizations on campus in deficits as has been previously reported.
“This year, the intent that the board came out with was for the institution to maintain a minimal increase in tuition,” Wood stated. “We look at what the impact on affordability because that is one of our number one goals.”
The three options shown during the hearing come with different projects and supplements. With a 2.47% increase, the University intends to fund the changes in the cost-of-living adjustment mandated by the legislature and eliminate the application fee to UVU. With a 3.92% increase, the University intends to expand health and social work programs and fund last year’s mandated cost increase. This would also come with a “digital transformation/finance” of library contacts. Last was the 4.5% increase, which would come with all previously mentioned adjustments with the addition of “Enhanced student success / Completion and Institutional workforce readiness.”
These proposals come after the Student Council voted to increase student fees for the 2024-2025 academic year. Several students attended the hearings to voice concerns about the rising costs for students along with other costs students are facing. One was Nick Boren-Fife, a deaf studies major, who spoke to this during the hearing.
“There is distress [among students], and little knowledge spread of this increase in tuition,” Boren-Fife began. “There is, I think, predominately a distress because I, like so many students here, work two jobs to be able to survive. There is a cap on how many hours [student] employees can work … so what I deeply, deeply implore UVUSA and the board is to vote yes if there is a guarantee in student wage increase or to vote no for an expectation to address student wage concerns.”
The tuition increase, along with the student fee proposal, is set to be presented to the President’s Council for approval. After that, it will go to UVU’s Board of Trustees, then finally to the Board of Regents for final approval.
