Board continues its purposeful and proactive approach to student affordability and maintains a rigorous tuition and fee review process
The Utah Board of Higher Education considered tuition and general student fee adjustments requested by Utah’s public colleges and universities on the second day of their two-day meeting on March 27, 2026. The Board approved a sub-inflationary 2.82% systemwide weighted average increase among degree-granting institutions for the coming year.
The Board considered and amended or reduced tuition and fee proposals for Utah State University and Utah Tech University.
For institutions with a technical college role, the Board approved net-neutral tuition increases for Mountainland Technical College, Ogden-Weber Technical College and Utah State University technical education programs, along with a general fee reduction proposed by Snow College. The Board also approved holding the remaining technical college tuition and fee schedules constant for the 2026–27 academic year while the Commissioner’s office conducts an interim review of technical education tuition and fee structures, paired with a statutory requirement for a study on technical college capacity funding.
This year’s approved tuition and fee increases were approved following in-depth exchanges of preliminary proposals and analyses between the Commissioner’s office and institutions. The final 2.82% systemwide weighted average tuition and fee increase came in below the proposed system request of 2.96%.
“The Board’s tuition and fee approvals this year reflect our ongoing focus on keeping higher education affordable across the system, including maintaining low-cost technical education and carefully reviewing tuition proposals at our degree-granting institutions,” said Amanda Covington, chair of the Utah Board of Higher Education. “We appreciate the thoughtful collaboration between our institutions, the Commissioner’s office and the Board as we worked to balance institutional needs with our commitment to affordability, access and value for Utah students.”
The following tuition and fee adjustments* will go into effect for the 2026-27 academic year:
| Institution | PROPOSED Percent Increase | APPROVED Percent Increase | APPROVED Dollars** Increase |
| Mountainland Technical College | 10% | 4.17% (net neutral***) | $5 |
| Ogden-Weber Technical College | 5.26% | 5.26% (net neutral***) | $5 |
| Salt Lake Community College | 2.31% | 2.31% | $105 |
| Snow College | 3.53% | 3.53% | $157 |
| Southern Utah University | 2.44% | 2.44% | $173 |
| University of Utah | 2.92% | 2.92% | $317 |
| Utah State University | 3.97% | 3.22% | $286 |
| Utah Tech University | 2.84% | 2.80% | $181 |
| Utah Valley University | 2.98% | 2.98% | $199 |
| Weber State University | 0.35% (lower division / 2.99% (upper division) | 0.35% (lower division / 2.99% (upper division) | $132 |
*For a resident undergraduate student taking 15 credits per semester for two semesters
**Percentages and dollar increases may vary slightly from actuals due to rounding.
***Represents a tuition increase offset by fee reductions, resulting in no net change to total tuition and fees.
Each year following Utah’s legislative session, the Board determines the amount of additional tuition necessary to meet the operating budget needs and help fulfill the missions of Utah’s public colleges and universities. Tuition rates are adjusted to meet the legislative requirement to fund compensation increases, mandatory costs and other expenditures such as tenure and promotion of faculty, and to cover other costs for student services, programs and more.
See all agenda items and materials from the March 27 Board meeting.