The UT Board of Trustees approved a 3 percent tuition increase as part of UT Knoxville’s $1.06 billion new fiscal year budget, which begins July 1.
Due to increases in state funding, all UT System campuses held tuition increases to 3 percent for undergraduates. It has been nineteen years since UT Knoxville last held its annual tuition increase to 3 percent.
Beginning this fall, tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates will be $12,436 a year for incoming students and those who entered in fall 2014 and later. The out-of-state portion of undergraduate tuition will not increase, which means that out-of-state students will pay 1.7 percent more than last year’s rate. UT Knoxville undergraduates pay varying tuition rates that correlate with the semester and year in which they first enrolled. The differences result from the 15-4 model we adopted in 2013 to encourage graduation in four years.
Trustees also approved two differential tuition proposals for the Haslam College of Business and the College of Architecture and Design.
The budget also includes a 1 percent cost of living raise for all eligible UT Knoxville employees. Employees who earn $40,000 or less will receive $400. There will be an additional 2 percent pool for merit and market increases. Improving faculty and staff pay and rewarding consistent meritorious performance are critical to our goal of becoming a Top 25 public research university.
“I am pleased that we’ve been able to fund a raise—either a merit raise or a combination of an across-the-board and merit raise—for the past five years,” said Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek.
The General Assembly passed a new budget this spring that funds the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s request for an additional $25.7 million for state colleges and universities based on performance outcomes. As a result, the Knoxville campus will receive an additional $5 million for the progress it’s made in improving retention, graduation rates, and research activity.
Funds generated from tuition and fee increases will be used to enhance student services, improve technology, and modernize facilities. We are also investing in academic support programs to help our students excel in their courses and graduate on time.
“Each year we work to balance our operating costs and our goals for improving the university with the need to remain affordable and accessible to students,” said Cheek. “We are fortunate that Governor Bill Haslam and the General Assembly have demonstrated strong support for higher education, and that support will help us remain affordable and accessible to students who aspire to attend the state’s flagship research university.”