RALEIGH — The UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees approved a 3% tuition rate hike for in-state undergraduate students and 10% increase for out-of-state undergraduate students during day two of its monthly meeting last Thursday. The UNC System has kept tuition rates frozen for the past eight years.
The 3% increase translates to an added $211 per in-state student. The 10% hike means an additional $4,320 per out-of-state student.
Other increases included bumping up out-of-state graduate student tuition by 1%. Additionally, certain campus life services were also raised, such as a 3.9% increase for dining services, a 7% bump for housing, and a $53 student fee to support a proposed campus recreation and wellness center, currently estimated to cost $120 million.
Additional items included $1,000 increases for both in-state and out-of-state students for the School of Government, as well as School of Law increases of $1,500 for in-state students and $3,000 for out-of-state students.
The idea of a possible 3% tuition hike had been floated by UNC Board of Governors Chair Wendy Murphy during that body’s September meeting. Murphy cited inflation as driving a potential tuition hike.
The UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees (BOT) initially voted down the tuition increase on Wednesday during the first day of the BOT’s monthly meeting. That changed during the Thursday meeting when the increase passed by a close vote of 6-5, with four of the 15-member BOT absent.
The increases were presented on day one of the meeting by the BOT by Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nathan Knuffman, one of the co-chairs of the university’s Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force. Knuffman asked the board to reconsider its initial vote on day two.
“We do believe this proposal best balances the need for additional resources while also remaining consistent with our long-standing commitment to affordability,” Knuffman told the BOT.
“I want to emphasize a point the chancellor made yesterday with respect to the resident tuition proposal. We remain concerned about the dynamic where UNC Chapel Hill is requesting a sizable level of enrollment dollars, likely north of $15 million, from the legislature. Yet we’re not using all the options available to us to generate additional dollars.”
BOT member Marty Kotis questioned the in-state rate increases in terms of maintaining in-state student affordability, citing state statutes, the state constitution and board policies. He noted that out-of-state rates were still lower than similar other public institutions by $2,000 and said BOG tuition policy 100.11 “requires resident undergraduate tuition and fees to stay in the bottom quartile requires campuses to exhaust all other levers before proposing resident increases.”
“Why flat tuition is really the only compliant option is because raising resident tuition would only generate roughly $800,000 in additional revenue. The other out-of-state increases generate closer to $15-$30 million worth of additional revenue,” Kotis said. “We have not exhausted every other lever unless we do those nonresident increases or look for other sources of revenue through there.”
Other BOT members shared Kotis’ concerns, including being able to reduce rates in the future and whether all other revenue options have been explored. Member Jim Blaine argued the BOT could “easily go through this budget and find $800,000” and called the tuition hike the “easy button” and the “lazy way” to gain revenue.
The impact of the additional fee increases on students as well as inflation on UNC System costs was also discussed as a factor for the proposed tuition changes.
The tuition and services increases, if given final approval, would take effect for the 2026-27 school year but would not apply to current students due to the state’s fixed tuition program established by the General Assembly in 2016.
Not including fees and other campus costs, the current year’s in-state tuition average at UNC System schools is between $4,500 and $4,700. Out of all UNC System schools, UNC Chapel Hill already has the highest in-state tuition rate at $7,019 and $43,152 for out-of-state students.
The various increases proposed by the BOT will still have to get the UNC Board of Governors’ approval, likely early next year.
