For a fourth consecutive year, University of Vermont President Suresh Garimella has recommended that the institution freeze tuition for all students. The proposal, which requires approval from the university’s board of trustees this fall, would apply to the 2022–23 academic year.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday morning at UVM’s Davis Center, Garimella said he also hopes to hold room and board costs steady for a third consecutive year. He said he wants the undergraduate student fee to remain flat and the graduate student fee reduced by $250.
Garimella said it’s important that families do not bear the burden of the university’s rising costs through rising tuition.
“Annual tuition increases, even modest ones, are not the solution to the budget pressures facing colleges and universities,” Garimella said. “And it is not prudent, nor is it practical, to expect students and families to absorb continually rising costs.”
The university estimates that one year of school costs $35,884 for an in-state student, counting tuition, meal plans and housing. This includes miscellaneous expenses factored in by the university. For out-of-state students with the same package, a year of school costs $61,172, according to UVM.
Tuition alone accounts for $16,392 of the price tag for an in-state student and $41,280 for an out-of-state student.
At Wednesday’s press conference, Garimella told VTDigger that the university is able to afford a fourth year of frozen tuition through its fiscal prudence. He said there’s no “single silver bullet” that has enabled the university to afford the move.
Rather, he said, it’s the result of a combination of measures. He pointed to money brought in through fundraising. The university’s Student Opportunity, Access and Recruitment fundraising campaign, launched last fall, has since raised $45 million. Garimella also said the university is hoping to bring in more revenue through certificate programs for nontraditional learners.
“It’s a very difficult thing to do, what we’re doing,” he said, specifically because UVM does not receive as much funding from the state as comparable institutions elsewhere. “And the fourth year is much harder than the first year.”
UVM also saw its largest freshman class ever this fall, in the neighborhood of about 3,000 students. Garimella could not say precisely how many freshmen enrolled this fall because the final course add/drop deadline is Wednesday.
Garimella took over as president of the university in 2019 and initiated the first tuition freeze for the 2020–21 academic year. It appears he is adopting an approach similar to that of Purdue University, where he previously served as an executive vice president.
Under former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ leadership, Purdue has kept tuition levels the same since 2012. But Daniels has been criticized for adding more private partnerships to the state school and cutting teaching budgets and assistant positions.
