BURLINGTON — The University of Vermont plans to freeze tuition for the next academic year, President Suresh Garimella announced Thursday.
The university would be holding tuition for both in-state and out-of-state students at its 2019-20 rate for the 2020-21 academic year. The current rate is $16,392 for Vermont residents and $41,280 for out-of-state students.
The total cost of attendance — which includes room and board, meals, fees, books and personal expenses — is $35,220 for in-state students and $60,468 for out-of-state students, according to the university.
The plan, which also pertains to graduate students, is expected to be adopted in the spring when the board of trustees sets tuition rates for the coming year.
“Our most sacred responsibility is to ensure the success of our students,” Garimella said. “And that starts with access and affordability.”
The university has held tuition increases to around 3% in recent years, Garimella said. But Garimella, who started his tenure as president in July, said the university had to do better.
“Yearly tuition increases, even modest ones, cannot drive our financial model and are not sustainable,” he said.
If the university had raised tuition by 3% for next year, it would have brought in $7 million to $8 million more in revenue, UVM spokesman Enrqiue Corredera said. Garimella said the university would aim to grow revenue from a variety of sources to fund the freeze.
The university will aim to improve its student retention rate and grow graduate, non-degree, online and summer enrollment, he said. Garimella said the university is working to increase the number of transfer students it attracts and expand flexible course offerings and noncredit professional development programs geared toward adults.
The university will also work to fund research with federal grants and partnerships with corporations and use philanthropic gifts to fill the gap.
Garimella said the university isn’t counting on a large increase in freshman enrollment or faculty or staff layoffs to fund the initiative.
“I’ve always held that we cannot cut our way to success,” he said. “I want to say clearly that this historic initiative is not built on the backs of our employees.”
Gov. Phil Scott said in a statement that he was pleased to hear of the university’s tuition freeze and that he appreciated Garimella’s leadership.
“We know there is tremendous value for our kids in earning a college degree or pursuing trades training and technical education,” Scott said. “These are opportunities that we want all kids to be able to access and afford.”
Jillian Scannell, president of UVM’s Student Government Association, said she was “over the moon” about the announcement.
“They’ve been talking about student success, specifically President Garimella, and he’s been saying that’s his top priority,” she said. “I think this is an example.”
Julie Roberts, a professor of linguistics and the president of UVM’s faculty union, United Academics, said the union supports affordability for students and is not against the tuition freeze.
But she said the union wants to ensure any efforts taken to balance the budget for the freeze do not threaten the student experience in the classroom.
“We absolutely support affordability for students,” she said. “We also think that any decisions that are made to balance the budget in light of this do not jeopardize the quality education that we are trying to give to students.”
Roberts said efforts to fill the funding gap need to ensure that students continue to receive high-quality education, which translates to small class sizes and competitive salaries and reasonable workloads for faculty.
Garimella came to UVM from Purdue University, where he was the executive vice president for research and partnerships.
While Garimella was at Purdue, the university froze its tuition at 2012 levels for undergraduates. The tuition freeze attracted significant media attention for the university and was a top priority for Purdue President Mitch Daniels, a former Republican governor of Indiana.
Garimella said Purdue showed that freezing tuition “can be done.” He said that while he can’t control the inflation that plays into the total cost of attendance, holding tuition solid means the total cost will be “significantly less” than it would be if tuition continued to go up.
Garimella, an engineer by training, said the university still has to refine its funding plan before taking a proposal to the board. But he would not be making the announcement if he wasn’t confident it would be a reality.
“I’m pretty good at math,” he said.
This story was updated at 3:25 p.m.
