The UT Board of Trustees approved a 2017–18 budget Thursday that includes market and merit salary increases for UT Knoxville faculty and staff and the lowest tuition increase since 1984.
UT Knoxville tuition for in-state undergraduate students in the new academic year will increase by 1.8 percent over last year’s rate. The out-of-state portion of tuition will not increase. This means out-of-state undergraduates will pay 0.7 percent more for tuition over last year’s rate.
This will be the seventh year in a row that UT Knoxville employees will be eligible for pay raises. The UT Knoxville 3 percent pool will be used for merit pay and to address merit and equity pay issues.
- All UT Knoxville twelve-month faculty and staff who receive raises will see an increase in August, retroactive to July 1.
- Raises for nine-month faculty and flex-year employees will be effective in August.
- Twelve-month faculty and staff must be on the payroll as of June 30 to be eligible.
- Nine-month faculty and flex-year employees must be on the payroll as of July 31 to be eligible.
“We are grateful to the governor and the General Assembly for their continued support for our strategic initiatives and our efforts to provide our students with state-of-the-art facilities,” UT Knoxville Chancellor Beverly Davenport said.
UT Knoxville’s $1.2 billion budget for FY 17–18 includes $90.25 million in capital funding from the state for a new building to house nuclear engineering and the Tickle College of Engineering’s first-year programs. The state also provided $10.5 million in deferred maintenance funds, which will be used for utility and HVAC improvements. The campus will receive an additional $19.4 million in funding through the state’s performance funding formula.
The campus will invest $6 million in one-time startup funds for a new doctoral program in computational sciences and data analytics. The new Bredesen Center program further strengthens the campus partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The first group of students will enroll this fall, with the goal of enrolling 100 doctoral students in the program.