The Idaho State Board of Education approved a 6.1 percent increase in tuition at the University of Idaho Wednesday, which will allow the university to move forward and improve the student experience.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut Richard Westerberg, president of the State Board of Education, presides over discussion during the SBOE meeting Thursday in the Student Union Building ballroom. The board approved tuition and fee increases for five Idaho higher education institutions.
“For the last four years, we have been asking students to help fill up a hole,” said Keith Ickes, UI executive director of Planning and Budget. “The increase will help us move forward and ensure our students have the same experience as their colleagues at other institutions.”
UI President M. Duane Nellis, Ickes, ASUI President Samantha Perez and incoming ASUI President Hannah Davis
presented the proposal for the increase to the SBOE during its monthly meeting in UI’s Student Union Building ballroom. The proposal passed with a vote of 5-2 — opposed by SBOE President Richard Westerberg and vice president Kenneth Edmunds.
“Since 2001, there has been a 95 percent increase in tuition and this would push us over 100 percent,” Edmunds said. “Any increase will provide further barriers in growing population at UI.”
Nellis cited four fiscal challenges UI faces during his presentation: a 2 percent Change in Employee Compensation that amounts to $4.3 million, $2.1 million in required increases such as mandated promotions in staff and utility costs, $3.6 million in unfunded state obligations like computers and lab materials, and $1.3 million for improving the student experience at UI. The total estimated cost is $11.3 million, which would require a 16.1 percent increase to fund everything.
Perez has presented the tuition increase to students in residence halls and Greek houses and said “students are extremely excited about the proposal and we support it.”
“In the Graduating Senior Survey, 83 percent of students said they were satisfied or greatly satisfied with the cost of education and this is coming from the class who has had to deal with the most budget cuts to education,” Perez said.
The increase will put Idaho resident tuition at $6,212 and non-resident tuition at $19,000, which is lower than UI’s peer institutions that average $8,290 in-state tuition and $21,200 out-of-state, Nellis said. Idaho is 47th in the nation for lowest resident tuition and fees, and has the lowest graduate fees of the three graduate institutions in the state.
The cost increase per student is $356. Ickes said a 6.1 increase is not unusually high compared to other institutions in the nation. Washington State University raised tuition 16 percent last year, and imposed another 16 percent increase this year.
“There have been reductions in state funding and we need an increase in tuition to offset that,” Ickes said.
Inflationary costs have also contributed to the need for increased tuition. Per student calculation the university can buy 20 percent less than it could a decade ago, and that number will continue to increase if it is ignored, Ickes said.
“To have the same purchasing power we did a decade ago we would need $36 million in state funding,” he said.
A record number of Idaho students enrolled at UI last year, Ickes said, and financial aid has been structured to attract more residents. Perez said though cost is a barrier to higher education, students are also uneducated about how to find financial aid. Students need more workshops and opportunities to learn how to finance their education, such as the Vandal Challenge Leadership Conference, Perez said.
SBOE member Milford Terrell said UI faces many financial issues and state funding is necessary to continue upgrading campus buildings and education.
“State money has to continue to make it the institution it is today,” Terrell said.
Elisa Eiguren can be reached at [email protected]