April 4, 2016
Abbie Stillman
[email protected]
Tuition affects every student, whether they are on financial aid or not.
For the 2016-17 school year, tuition will rise 4.62 percent. For resident undergraduate lower division students, that means a $435 increase from this year to a total of $9,863 per year.
According to assistant vice chancellor for Finance and Human Resources Gayanne Scott, tuition will rise for two reasons: UCCS is expanding and Colorado does not fund higher education well.
“We are generally in the bottom three or four of state funding per student for higher education,” said Scott.
Next year, UCCS is expecting a funding cut from the state of $400,000 and the following year a little under $900,000.
“Those are our two levers, tuition and state support,” said Scott.
For 2015-16, tuition increased by 3.5 percent. For 2014-15, it increased by 3.2 percent.
Junior marketing major Kelsey Clark said she is already taking out loans.
“(I’m) questioning if my degree will be enough to pay back what I will eventually owe.”
Junior health sciences major Thomas Mitchell said, “My parents pay for my education, so if it goes up I would pay the difference.”
Final budgeting takes place over a course of several months. The campus process starts in the late fall.
For students receiving scholarships, rising costs shouldn’t affect them too much because the money goes into their financial aid package. Scott recommended students explore all options for school.
“For students that don’t get scholarships, I’d say they have to look all over Colorado.”
Scott added that for a CU degree, UCCS is still the best priced.
Per year for a Colorado resident student, the cost difference between CU-Boulder and UCCS is $7,135, Scott said.
She encouraged students to look at the strategic plan so they can get a better idea of where UCCS is going and to pay attention to politics in Colorado.
If students search for the strategic plan on UCCS’ webpage, they will find an eight-year plan that includes goals for the school, students, tuition increases, enrollment growth increases and compensation increases.