berglunds@lopers.unk.edu

A tuition freeze was announced on June 15 by Ted Carter, president of the University of  Nebraska System. It will be the second year in a row the NU system is able to make the budget cuts necessary to initiate the freeze.

This effort is made to provide students and families, who are facing high rates of inflation, with affordable education.

“I remain highly appreciative of my colleagues who were committed to making the spending cuts necessary to freeze tuition for two straight years,” said Jon Watts, vice chancellor of Business and Finance. 

The tuition freeze was first underway in 2020 shortly after the pandemic hit. The plan was to reduce spending significantly throughout the NU system.

Over the three-year plan, proposed by Carter, the NU system hopes to make $48 million in cuts. UNK alone was able to cut $2.8 million so far.

“Even at a modest 2% increase, students would have paid an additional $650 for tuition had it not been for the tuition freeze,” Watts said. 

If tuition was a part of the inflation everyone is facing, it may become unaffordable. NU’s proposed budget limits year-over-year growth to 1.3%, which is below current inflation rates. The current rate of inflation in 2022 is at an all-time high of 8.5% since 1920.

With inflation now being the highest it has been in 40 years, everything is going up in price, but the University of Nebraska’s tuition remains under a tuition freeze for a second year.

Carter’s proposed budget went before the Board of Regents on June 23, where it was approved.

“The tuition freeze was a strong statement of the University of Nebraska’s priorities,” said Watts. “Every dollar matters, and the faculty and staff at UNK work tirelessly to make certain no student is denied the opportunity to pursue a college degree.”