(The Center Square) – The Washington State University Board of Regents has approved a 3% increase in tuition costs for undergraduate and graduate students for the upcoming 2024-25 academic year.
That equates to a $329 annual tuition rate increase from the current academic year – from $10,976 to $11,305 – for a fulltime resident undergraduate student. The tuition hike was approved Friday during a regents meeting in Seattle and applies regardless of residency status.
However, a few degree programs will see no increase in the coming academic year. Those include the university’s pharmacy, veterinary medicine, and master of nursing programs. Proposed tuition rates from WSU’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine will be presented to the board for consideration in March.
Current tuition rates for resident undergraduates are close to what they were a decade ago – $10,0874 in the 2012-13 academic year, said Leslie Brunelli, WSU’s chief financial officer, during a finance and administration committee meeting Thursday.
College officials said discussions about tuition rates began last fall for the upcoming school year, with regents receiving reports on tuition affordability and seeking input from students.
In a letter to the board, WSU’s student government council acknowledged the need for the tuition increase, but requested a 2.5% rate hike rather than the 3% that was adopted. The council urged university leaders to continue exploring and implementing cost-saving measures and seeking revenue sources that “do not disproportionately impact students.”
According to the university, resident undergraduate tuition rates in the state of Washington can’t be raised by more than the average annual percent growth of the median hourly wage in the past 14 years. As a result, the cap for the 2024-25 academic year was set for 3%.
In fiscal year 2023, WSU’s operating expenses increased by $40 million compared to the prior year, due in part to a 7% increase in salary and wages mostly for faculty and administrative staff, said Matt Skinner, WSU senior associate vice president and deputy CFO, during a presentation.
The university will also incur increased expenses after reaching a tentative, first-ever labor contract earlier in January with academic student employees. WSU officials said they offered an average wage increase of 20% to student employees that will cost an additional $15.7 million through fiscal year 2026.
“At the end of the day, I think when we talk about strengthening Washington State University, this is a key component, because our graduate students are key to our research enterprise,” Schulz said in a press release Friday. “We need exceptional graduate students that feel supported, compensated, and want to come to Washington State University.”
