WMU board votes to keep tuition within the state's cap

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—At its June 27 meeting, the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees approved a recommendation to increase tuition rates for 2018-19. The increase falls within the state's guidelines for tuition restraint.

Effective with the start of the fall 2018 semester, annual tuition and required fees for a full-time Michigan freshman or sophomore to attend WMU will be $12,483. This new figure reflects a 3.88 percent increase in rates over the previous academic year.

Tuition, accounting for 72 percent of the University's total budgeted revenue, is the major revenue source for WMU's general fund.

"In developing the budget, we are always focused on affordability, offering our students the high-quality education they expect and deserve, and meeting the University's strategic goals and priorities," says Jan Van Der Kley, vice president for business and finance, who presented the administration's tuition proposal.

"It's a balancing act." 

View a complete breakdown of 2018-19 tuition and required fees.

As part of the appropriation process, the state asked that tuition and required fee increases for resident undergraduate students be no more than 3.8 percent or $490, whichever is greater. Based on the state's tuition-restraint formula this year, $490 equates to 3.88 percent for WMU.

But to help alleviate the financial load for students, WMU trustees also approved adding $3.6 million to the financial aid budget, which represents a 6.4 percent increase in aid.

With the board's action June 27, all main-campus instructional levels will see new rates, including these:

• Full-time upper level--junior and senior--resident undergraduate students' annual cost for tuition and required fees beginning this fall will be $13,685.
• Resident undergraduates will see a per-credit-hour tuition rate increase of 8.44 percent for those credit hours that fall outside the flat-rate, 12-to-15-credit tuition corridor. This increase more closely aligns the undergraduate per-credit-hour rates to the equivalent of taking 12 credit hours in the flat-rate corridor.
• Tuition rates for resident graduate students will increase by 8.44 percent to $651.57 per credit hour, putting those costs into alignment with Michigan's other research universities.
• Nonresident graduate tuition rates will increase by 1.9 percent to $1,232.05 per credit hour.
• The differential tuition rates assessed by some colleges will increase by 3.88 percent.

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