In today’s economic climate money is a constant concern. Students especially worry about paying for tuition, rent and the miscellaneous fees that accompany the college experience. This past week the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees voted on tuition increases for the coming 2019-2020 academic year.
“UW does a great job at keeping their tuition low especially for instate students,” said Caitlyn Murray, an instate freshman with a double major in anthropology and dance. Money plays a significant role in education for anyone in the United States. The University of Wyoming holds the lowest tuition and fees for resident undergraduates and one of the lowest for non-resident undergraduates.
For UW there will be a slight increase in tuition for students this coming academic year of 2019-2020. This past Thursday the UW Board of Trustees voted on an increase of four percent for tuition excluding the online graduate programs for nonresidents and two other specific online programs.
For example, the credit hour tuition will be $139 instead of the current $134 for in state students and $558 instead of $537 for out of state students. This slight increase, though, does not include the mandatory student fees, which will typically remain the same as this current 2018-2019 academic year.
There will also be a five percent increase in tuition supported by the College of Business that will affect online residents, non-residents and the executive Master of Business Administration Program. With this slight increase, UW will align the costs of this program with the professional business administration market for degrees.
Both of these increases are contributing to the funding of student services on campus for their success. This includes recruitment of professional faculty and staff for UW who may have a sharper and more expert focus on four-year graduation for students and greater networking opportunities for job placement soon after graduation.
“Already, with the Wyoming tuition, only a certain amount of instate residents get the Hathaway Scholarship or other scholarships,” said Murray. “My dad is a teacher and my mom is a nurse, but they would not have been able to send me anywhere else and that is with scholarships that I got.”
The low tuition rates for residents and non-residents
There are a few exceptions to this new increase in tuition though. One of which is a 45 percent decrease for nonresidents in the online graduate programs. This comes out to be $432 instead of $780 per credit hour. UW’s rate, before this 45 percent decrease takes effect in the next academic year, is highest among its peers when fees are included. Due to the previously high rates there was a 40 percent decline in enrollment since the fall of the academic year of 2013-2014.
With the decrease of tuition there will be more competitiveness among online universities in this western portion of the United States. There will also be the online Bachelor of Science in the Nursing Program going from $537 to $350 per credit hour in the next academic year. These rates will align with the surrounding universities to make it help foster a more competitive environment at UW for student enrollment rates.
