University of Kentucky students could see a 1 percent bump in tuition in the fall
The president of the University of Kentucky will seek a 1 percent tuition bump for next year, he announced in an email to campus on Friday.
If that tuition increase is approved at the university’s June Board of Trustees meeting, then the bump will mark the second consecutive year of the lowest annual tuition increase in the last 30 years, UK President Eli Capilouto wrote in the email. Over the past decade, the annual increase for in-state undergraduates has gone from 7.3 percent per year to 1.7 percent.
In March, the university announced that it would be returning to largely in-person classes in the fall. Under Capilouto’s proposal, in-state tuition and fees in fall 2021 would increase from $6,242 per semester to $6,305. Out-of-state tuition — which would also increase by 1 percent — would go from $15,647 to $15,804.
This past school year, UK enrolled 31,110 students — of them 22,246 were undergraduate students, according to university data.
Earlier this week, campus officials announced that the university’s residence halls would return to normal capacity in the fall. Over the past school year, dorm capacity was reduced so that all students could at least have their own private bedroom and no more than two students would share a bathroom. During a normal year the on-campus student population would hover around 7,500. Over the past year the on-campus population has been closer to 6,500.
In December, Greystar, the university’s private housing partner which built and manages over 7,000 of the on-campus beds, agreed to a 3 percent increase in housing rates. The cost of the university’s most-common room — the 2-bedroom suite — will go up from $4,684 per semester to $4,825 per semester in fall 2021.
“We’ve worked to significantly hold down annual tuition increases, while investing more and more in scholarships and grants that don’t have to be repaid and that are particularly targeted to students with the most need,” Capilouto wrote in the email announcing the proposed tuition increase.
Most of the university’s undergraduate programs will be offered on UK’s campus in the fall, Capilouto wrote, but for fully online programs tuition will be calculated on a per-credit-hour basis. The price of a fully online undergrad program would go from $607 per credit hour to $613.50 — meaning a full-time, online student taking at least 12 credit hours would pay $7,362 per semester.
Capilouto’s tuition plan would also eliminate the distance learning fee for online undergraduate courses. Currently that fee is $10 per online credit hour.
Tuition rates for graduate students would also increase by 1 percent. Graduate students paying in-state tuition would see their tuition and fees go from $6,769 to $6,837. Tuition and fees for out-of-state graduate students would go from $16,608 to $16,774.
More details on the proposed tuition plan will be released at the June board meeting in conjunction with information on the university’s next budget, Capilouto wrote.