Community College Tuition Increase Second Lowest in Nearly Three Decades

Tennessee Community College tuition will see the second lowest increase after nearly three decades.

The tuition for community colleges will increase at 2.7 percent.

Rick Locker is the Communications Director at the Tennessee Board of Regents.

“Governor Haslam and the Tennessee General Assembly have been generous with higher education in the past several years since the recession,” Locker said. “So we have increased state funding and we are grateful for that. And the colleges have been tightening up looking for savings.”

Locker said the college system has looked at consolidating jobs like HR and payroll in order to save money as well.

“Because there was no increase in the mandatory fees beyond tuition,” Locker said. “It means a 54 dollar per semester increase for students returning later this month to our community colleges.”

The State of Tennessee created a three percent cap on the tuition increases for this year. Locker said TBR came right under at 2.4 percent to 2.7 percent.

Tuition increases at the community college level change on a credit hour basis.

The new rate has a four dollar increase at the twelve-hour mark. Above the twelve-credit hours, students will see a two dollar increase.