University of Tennessee plans to keep tuition steady, but these fees will increase
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville's proposed budget continues a four-year trend: Tuition will not increase for students.
The last increase for tuition came in 2020, where it rose 2%. It has stayed stagnant from 2021 through this upcoming academic year.
Annual tuition is $11,332 for in-state students and $29,522 for out-of-state students.
Two fees, however, will increase. The facilities and transportation fee will increase by $240 total, which is projected to create $9.2 million in revenue for the university. The hikes bring up the total cost to $13,484 for in-state and $31,974 for out-of-state.
The fee increases also affect graduate, college of law and college of veterinary students.
The combined operating budget is for the Knoxville campus, Space Institute and Institute of Agriculture. A huge change for tuition at the Space Institute is for out-of-state students from Madison County, Alabama. Students from that county will be charged the in-state tuition rate of $11,468 instead of the out-of-state rate, saving $18,188.
The overall proposed budget reaches almost $1.92 billion. It is $157.9 million more than last year's budget.
The educational and general fund expenses make up the majority of the budget at nearly $1.23 billion. This pays for instruction, research, scholarships, public service, student services, institutional support, operation and maintenance, transfers and academic support.
Over half of this budget is sourced through tuition.
About 25% of the budget is for auxiliary facilities, which are the self-sustaining parts of the university. It totals $307.1 million for the proposed budget, and it includes athletics. Athletics takes up the largest portion with $184.1 million, an increase of $20.3 million from last year.
Additional parts of the auxiliary budget are housing, dining, parking and the Volshop.
The final part of the budget is restricted funds, which come from donors or other external sources. That section totals $385.2 million, a $3.5 million decrease from 2023's budget.
The budget must be approved by the Board of Trustees.
Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. Twitter @specialk2real.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: University of Tennessee plans to keep tuition steady
