TTU Students Could See Slight Tuition Increase

Tennessee Tech students could return to campus next fall with slightly higher tuition.

President Phil Oldham said a proposed tuition increase of 2.3 percent will be considered by the university’s Board of Trustees later this June.

“This will be the smallest tuition increase percentage-wise at Tennessee Tech in at least the last eight or 10 years,” Oldham said. “It’s a continued effort to try to minimize cost increases at the university to make sure students get the absolute best value for their educational investment.”

The proposal was first discussed during the university’s executive committee meeting earlier this month.

Oldham said the university typically looks to tuition increases last when searching for additional funding for its annual budget.

“We take in all possible sources of revenue and income and match those against the most urgent,  pressing needs,” Oldham said. “Certainly this particular tuition increase is part of that puzzle, [but] it’s not all of it. We’re receiving a pretty significant increase in state support again this year.”

According to Tennessee Tech’s 2018-2019 Tuition and Fees summary, full-time in-state students paid just over $8,700 last year. The proposed increase would bump that number up to over $8,900 per year.

Oldham said the additional revenue from the tuition increase would go towards improving the on-campus experience and increasing return-on-investment.

“We feel like it’s sort of the minimum that we need to do to make sure we continually hit those quality indicators,” Oldham said, “and match the expectations of our students with what they expect to get in return from their educational investments.”

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission reports Tennessee Tech ranked fifth-lowest in terms of mandatory fees at just over $9,100. Tennessee State, Austin-Peay, UT-Chattanooga, and UT-Martin had lower costs below $9,000, while UT-Knoxville had the highest amount of mandatory fees at over $13,000.

Tennessee Tech’s Board of Trustees will consider the tuition proposal when they next meet Thursday, June 20 at the Roaden University Center.