On Jan. 15, the Board of Regents was expected to approve the administration’s plan to increase UNK’s room and board rates annually by no more than 4% for each of the next three academic years. But Sam Schroeder, UNK student regent, had other plans.
After public commentary and Schroeder’s presentation, the board voted to keep the campus’s room and board rates steady for the 2026-27 academic year.
“The action taken by the regents last Thursday should send a message to our campus administration that we need to do something differently,” Schroeder said.
While UNK avoided a raise in rates, the Board of Regents voted to increase room and board costs at UNL and UNO, as well as the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture. Schroeder said the Lincoln and Omaha campuses don’t share UNK’s occupancy challenges.
According to data from the Office of Residence Life, about 1/4 of the beds on campus were empty by the end of the fall semester. Schroeder said an increase in room and board threatens the occupancy rate, which results in a loss in potential revenue when students are unwilling to pay to live on campus.
“It’s in the best interest of both parties,” Schroeder said. “But when it gets to a point where students can’t afford it, it’s also harming both parties.”
UNK is in a budget crisis and the board’s decision will impact the campus expenditures. According to the proposal, the increase in rates supports cost recovery for employee salaries, wages and benefits, as well as operation and maintenance needs for the University’s housing and dining programs.
Schroeder said living on campus boosts involvement and academic performance, but many students are choosing to forego those benefits for less expensive living arrangements.
Abby Trantham, a junior majoring in secondary English language arts education, has lived in the dorms since she was a freshman, but she plans to move off in the fall.
“There’s a lot of factors that go into that – the main one just being price and living space,” Trantham said. “It’s kind of insane the amount we have to pay to live in a little box.”
The price of a meal plan also influenced Trantham’s decision to move off campus. Since her freshman year, the meal plan offerings have changed, but Trantham said the choices have remained costly.
“There’s kind of not really a good budget option,” Trantham said. “It’s all just really expensive.”
Iliana Wurzbacher, a junior studying exercise science, said the cost of housing and a meal plan influenced her decision to move off campus after her freshman year.
“It was super convenient to have the food always there, but they definitely were my most expensive semesters,” Wurzbacher said.
Schroeder said the meal plan options for upperclassmen give the illusion of choice by offering different combinations of block meals and dining dollars for the same cost.
The current price for the most prevalent option at UNK – a double occupancy room and the Explore meal plan – is $12,294. The proposed increase would have elevated that rate to $12,620 in 2026-27, $13,126 in 2027-28 and $13,650 in 2028-29.
According to Schroeder, some students are offered full room waivers and turn them down because of the cost of meal plans. He said expanding meal plan offerings, with a more varied mix of block meals and dining dollars, could give students greater flexibility in choosing an option that fits their budget.
“We have to fight for every student to stay on campus, update our strategies on how we keep students on campus and get meal plans now that the factor of cost is set for the next year,” Schroeder said.
