The University of Vermont is raising tuition for out-of-state students while seeking to make the university more affordable for Vermonters.
Out-of-state tuition, currently at $41,280 per academic year, will increase by 3.5% for the 2024-25 school year to $42,725.
The tuition hike is the first increase in either in-state or out-of-state tuition since 2019.
In a press release, the university attributed the increase to “rising costs for labor, utilities, healthcare, facilities renewal, and educational resources.”
In-state tuition, meanwhile, will stay frozen at $16,280. University officials also plan to expand a tuition assistance program called UVM Promise that helps low-income Vermonters attend the school for free.
Currently, in-state undergrads whose families have an adjusted gross income of $60,000 a year are able to attend UVM tuition-free. Starting in fall 2024, the university plans to increase that threshold to $75,000 a year.
“I am proud we are able to expand our UVM Promise to more families and renew our commitment to affordability for all Vermonters,” university President Suresh Garimella said in a Wednesday press release. “Access for Vermonters to a high quality university education is vital to the state’s economic future and part of our mission as Vermont’s flagship land-grant university.”
About 130 students in each undergraduate year currently receive UVM Promise benefits, according to university spokesperson Adam White. The higher income threshold should increase that to around 175, he said.
As of fall 2023, some 22% of UVM undergraduates hail from Vermont, while the rest are from out of state. That ratio is unusual among large public universities, who typically have a higher share of in-state students.
The Burlington university also plans to increase its “comprehensive fee,” which is paid by both in-state and out-of-state students. (UVM Promise students are exempt, according to the school’s website.) The fee helps pay for various academic and extracurricular programs as well as university functions.
The undergraduate fee is $2,610 for the current school year and will increase to $2,778 for 2024-25. The graduate school’s fee will increase from $2,056 to $2,192.
The college also plans to add fees for programs with “more costly teaching and laboratory resources,” such as nursing, engineering, math and business, according to the press release.
