(The Center Square) – The Washington State University Board of Regents voted Friday to raise tuition by the maximum amount next school year as enrollment has declined roughly 20% since the pandemic.
While freshmen enrollment saw slight increases systemwide for the second year in a row this fall, the overall student population decreased by roughly 3%. The regents expect that number to continue dropping next year, handing off some of the resulting financial pressure to its students.
Several students testified in opposition to the tuition increases, with some noting that 3.3% could be the difference between attaining a higher education. Student Regent Kassandra Vogel was the only dissenting vote, as her peers made raising the rates a nine-year tradition.
“As some of the students stated, you know what a tuition increase can really impact is their bottom line and their ability to afford some of those basic needs,” Vogel said. “That’s really what a lot of this comes down to.”
The other regents also expressed the weight of their decisions and that it doesn’t come lightly.
According to a presentation provided to the board, the 3.3% tuition hike will cost undergraduate students roughly $370 more annually if they live in Washington. Out-of-state undergraduates will see their annual tuition increase by approximately $920, and slightly higher for graduate students.
State law allows the regents to raise tuition each year by the average annual growth rate for median hourly wages over the last 14 years, with that currently being 3.3%. The board also approved increasing tuition by the 3% allowable maximum last year.
Tuition and fees make up about 19% of WSU’s $1.3 billion budget, the second highest source of revenues after state appropriations, which accounts for 26%; however, that might change as the Legislature anticipates an operating deficit upwards of $12 billion over the next four years.
Meanwhile, enrollment has dropped systemwide by over 16%, more than 5,100 students, since fall 2019, shortly before the pandemic. That decrease shifts to almost 19%, a loss of nearly 4,000 students when looking at enrollment since 2019 for the main Pullman campus alone.
The tuition hike drives up costs for undergraduates by roughly 17% compared to when enrollment peaked around 2019. In-state students will pay approximately $11,600 for tuition next year, with out-of-state students paying nearly $28,800.
According to the presentation, resident undergraduates already pay around $13,391 after tuition and fees, the highest in the state behind the University of Washington at roughly $12,973. WSU’s current tuition outpaces UW by nearly $600 annually, with fees by almost $1,000.
WSU expects the new tuition rates to increase revenues by roughly $3.6 million over the upcoming fiscal year.
“We have a new pressure that we have not necessarily had to navigate around,” Regent Marty Dickinson said, “our state tightening its budget and foreshadowing to us that it is going to be a very challenging legislative session.”
