University of New Mexico (UNM) regents voted Monday to give university employees a raise but declined a proposal for a 3% increase in tuition.
A UNM committee of three regents sent a proposed budget to the board seeking increases in tuition and fees for several initiatives including campus improvements, faculty recruitment, and retention, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Regent Robert Schwartz said the university has enjoyed “huge” increases in enrollment in the past couple of years and should expect at least a small increase in the coming year.
“It might be worth taking a little chance and figuring out whether we can provide these services without the tuition increase, it would only take 300 new students, for example, to bring in that same tuition that a 3% increase will bring us,” Schwartz said.
During a four-hour meeting, the board approved a recommendation to raise student fees, but not tuition. Students would see an increase of about $24 in student fees, according to a KOAT report. The board is set to approve the proposed plan at their next meeting on May 11.
"For many students, budgets are already tight,” Ian May, UNM student body president, said during the meeting. “Paying for school is just one of the things we must consider. And expenses range from tuition to parking to housing on and off campus to food and other basic needs. All of these costs are currently rising.”
Tuition and fees for in-state students next year would be $11,124 about $245.29 more than the current year, according to the Albuquerque Journal. In the proposal, in-state students would have paid $11,380 per year.
“(Tuition)’s too high for some students and there are some people who can’t study here for that reason, and I think that keeping that tuition lower in itself will bring in students who will change the nature of the budget,” Schwartz said.
Regent Randy Ko also supported not increasing tuition.
“We need to think about providing that education for a diverse range of students and for those students who are low income … making sure that financial considerations don’t stand in the way of talented individuals and quality education,” he said.
Branch campuses won’t raise tuition or fees at all next year, the Albuquerque Journal reported, however, university employees will get a 6% raise next year.
