Nebraska Board of Regents proposed 5% tuition increase; decision to be made at Thursday meeting
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Some significant changes may be coming for students in the University of Nebraska system.
A board of regents meeting on Thursday morning will determine whether or not there will be a tuition increase at the start of the school year.
The board wants to raise tuition by about 5% to offset inflation and fill funding gaps. It comes after state lawmakers approved just a portion of the funding they requested last August.
“What that has done is made us short of what we need to end up even from last year,” said Paul Kenney, chairman of the board.
Last August, the board of regents asked for a 3.5% increase in state funding.
However, just 0.635% was approved. This brought in a boost in appropriations of $4.35 million.
Under the new proposal, the nearly 5% tuition hike would bring in $19.07 million more.
If approved, in-state tuition would go from $10,434 to around $10,995.
Out-of-state would increase from $28,584 to $30,013.
“You look at other colleges like Southern Cal and Northwestern, and they’re dramatically higher,” Kenney explained. “But the rest of the Big Ten is in that quadrant—we’re at the lower end of that.”
The board promised they are still making an effort to preserve affordability for students while compensating for lost investments and state funding.
One of those efforts is the Nebraska Promise, which covers tuition at the University of Nebraska for in-state students whose families make less than $65,000 a year.
“Everything is tight around this country, and education is part of that, and you see across the board how classes are being cut, and people are being laid off.”
Kenney cited rises in costs for university operations, which account for $22 million, plus another $12.7 million for faculty and staff.
Add in costs like health insurance, utilities, and employee benefits; that’s an additional $10.2 million.
Regents will choose whether or not they will move forward with the 5% increase at the Thursday, June 19 meeting. That’s at 9:00 a.m. at Verner Hall on the UNL East Campus.
Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Copyright 2025 KOLN. All rights reserved.
