Tuition increasing across every University of Tennessee campus. Here's how it breaks down

Tuition and fees will increase this fall across all University of Tennessee campuses, but that doesn't mean tuition will always rise year to year.

The UT System Board of Trustees approved tuition increases and its overall budget at its annual meeting June 25. This will be UT Knoxville's first tuition increase since 2020.

• UT Knoxville: In-state students will pay $328 more, or a 2.4% increase
• UT Chattanooga: In-state students will pay $304 more, or a 3% increase
• UT Martin: In-state students will pay $352 more, or a 3.45% increase
• UT Southern: In-state students will pay $418 more, or a 4% increase
• UT Health Science Center: In-state will increase between $235 and $374 for four bachelor degree programs, which is a 2.9% increase for each.

Out-of-state students will receive the same price increases as in-state students, except for at UT Knoxville, where tuition with fees will increase by $1,282 or 4% for out-of-state students.

“These increases are, I think, reasonable based on the current conditions compared to … our other colleagues across the state,” UT System President Randy Boyd said. “The other public universities across the state have announced increases of 5.25%, so we are actually more competitive than the other campuses with this increase.”

Additional price increases are expected across the campuses, including graduate tuition increases, housing and dining increases, new parking fees at UT Knoxville, and new fees for specific colleges and online students.

“Our philosophy of tuition is that tuition increases should be modest and predictable to prevent the need for higher increases in slow economic times," UT System CFO David Miller told Knox News. "We want to prevent a roller coaster of unpredictability for students.”

UT expects to generate more than $40.5 million in revenue with the increases, Miller said, which will help to offset the 5.2% annual rise in inflation.

Breakdown of projected revenue for University of Tennessee campuses

More than $25.19 million, the biggest chunk of the total projected revenue, will help enhance academic programs, fill salary pools, promote employees, provide for scholarships and pay operating inflation costs.

The remaining revenue will go toward things like student materials, teaching supplies, mental health services, campus transit and rising construction costs.

Tuition increases this year don't set a precedent moving forward

Each year since 2017, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission has set a range for how much public universities can raise tuition each year. This year, the commission at its May 16 meeting set the range at 0%-5.5%.

When UT campuses have increased tuition, Miller said, leaders have kept it below the maximum increase outlined by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. The highest tuition increase at UT this year is UT Southern at 4%.

"I think every year we really start with zero," Miller said. "How can we do zero, which is why three of the last five years, (UT Knoxville) was able to do a zero increase in resident undergraduates (tuition)."

This will not set a precedent for how UT handles tuition increases moving forward. UT decides whether to increase tuition year-to-year, looking at where costs can be cut or reallocated to avoid increasing tuition.

"I would look at the last five to seven years as the best predictor of the future," Miller said. "That's our goal."

Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter @specialk2real.

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