Board continues its purposeful and proactive approach to affordability
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 28,2025. The Board approved a sub-inflationary 2.23% systemwide weighted average increase among degree-granting institutions for the coming year.
All eight Utah System of Higher Education technical colleges did not propose tuition and fees increases for 2025-26, holding tuition and fees flat. The Board considered and amended or reduced tuition and fee proposals for Salt Lake Community College, Utah Tech University and Utah State University.
This year’s approved tuition and fee increases are even lower than last year’s, following in-depth exchanges of preliminary proposals and analyses between the Commissioner’s office and institutions. The final 2.23% systemwide weighted average tuition and fee increase came in below the preliminary System request (2.43%) and final request (2.24%).
“The Board commends our USHE institutions’ efforts to collaborate with the system office to develop tuition and fee increase proposals that reinforce the value proposition of higher education in Utah,” said Amanda Covington, chair of the Utah Board of Higher Education. “While the Board revised a handful of proposals, each institutional request reflected a real decline in the bottom line cost to Utah students. This year’s institutional proposals recognized serious gains in affordability prior to being submitted to the Board, allowing for a more nuanced deliberation on the role of general student fees as an institutional financing mechanism. The Board deliberately addressed these issues today, recognizing the needs identified by students, and also the precondition that associated student fees should supplement, not substitute, taxpayer and community support.”
The following tuition and fee adjustments will go into effect for the 2025-26 academic year:
| Institution | PROPOSED Percent Increase | APPROVED Percent Increase | APPROVED Dollars* Increase |
| University of Utah | 2.10% | 2.10% | $224 |
| Utah State University | 2.60% | 2.57% | $223 |
| Weber State University | 1.03% | 1.03% | $68 |
| Southern Utah University | 1.89% | 1.89% | $131 |
| Utah Tech University | 2.81% | 2.77% | $175 |
| Utah Valley University | 2.58% | 2.58% | $168 |
| Salt Lake Community College | 2.65% | 2.64% | $117 |
| Snow College | 2.29% | 2.29% | $99 |
*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.
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 28 Board meeting.
