Students throughout the University of Minnesota system will face 1.5 percent tuition increases next year, pending approval from the Board of Regents later this month.
Regents on Thursday mostly expressed support for President Joan Gabel’s recommended $4 billion budget, which calls for nearly all students at all five campuses to take the same percentage increase.
On the Twin Cities campus, Minnesota residents would pay $13,532 (up $202) next school year and non-residents $32,096 (up $480).
Increases in state and federal grants should more than cover the bump in tuition for low-income students. And students from families making less than $50,000 a year would get aid that exceeds the price of tuition under the U’s expanded Promise Program.
Gabel wants to raise salaries by 1.5 percent, too, after a year of furloughs, temporary pay cuts, hiring freezes and retirement incentives that are helping the U get through the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic’s effects will linger next year, with an expected $26 million loss in tuition. The U took in far less revenue than usual from its latest freshman class because more of them were Minnesota residents who pay lower rates.
Gabel is calling for a lot of internal reallocations next year — $50 million — as departments eliminate administrative jobs, travel, leases and events. All told, the U should be down the equivalent of 230 full-time jobs, Budget Director Julie Tonneson said; some departments are getting more efficient, she said, while others have less demand.
“There’s no one big story here. It is a collection of often painful changes, and the impact will be distributed,” she said.
To help housing and dining budgets recover from a year of little usage, rates will rise by between 4.25 percent and 5.56 percent next year. Most other fees will be flat, and a surcharge for online courses will be rolled into tuition.
Regents will be asked to approve the budget during a special meeting June 29, when a loan of up to $50 million to cover this year’s losses also will be on the agenda.
Darrin Rosha was the only regent who signaled Thursday that he won’t support a tuition increase.
Ken Powell said a tuition freeze would not be “sustainable” when costs go up each year.
Steve Sviggum called a 1.5 percent increase “reasonable,” adding that employees deserve a pay raise after helping the U hold costs down in recent years.
David McMillan said he doesn’t mind a 1.5 percent increase when the U is cutting costs and planning for modest pay raises.