Tennessee’s decision to freeze tuition hikes could keep more students in college next school year

Tennessee students attending public colleges don’t have to worry about paying more for tuition in the fall. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission made a move to keep tuition costs flat during its spring quarterly meeting on Thursday.

The vote temporarily bans public four-year universities, two-year schools and technical colleges from increasing tuition for the 2022-2023 academic year. The decision to hold tuition flat, THEC said, is the first time the group has done that in its history.

The freeze was made possible by a $90 million investment into Tennessee’s higher education budget that was approved by Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers. Institutions were also granted more than “$47 million to fund the state’s share of a 4% state employee salary increase.”

Last spring, the commission gave public colleges a 0-to-2% binding range on tuition and fees for the 2021-2022 school year.

Courtesy Tennessee Higher Education Commision

A screenshot from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s spring 2022 quarterly meeting shows the tuition and fee ranges from the 2007-2008 academic year to the 2022-23 academic year.

“A zero-to-zero percent range will ensure that Tennessee has the lowest growth in tuition year-over-year that the state has seen in the last four decades,” said Russell VanZomeren, the commission’s director of fiscal policy.

Despite some increase in the state’s total first-year college retention rates in the past few years, Tennessee has seen a decrease in its college-going rate, which represents the number of high school graduates enrolling in higher education during the summer or fall after graduating high school. About 40% of Tennessee high school seniors who take steps to enroll in college don’t follow through in the fall.

More: How One University Is Attracting New High School Graduates Despite Tennessee’s Declining College-Going Rate

That’s because once students make that push, many still face uncertainties around fees and tuition costs. Those costs can be a big barrier that keeps them out of college due to affordability. It typically hurts low-income, Black and Latino students the most.

Tennessee director of The Education Trust Gini Pupo-Walker told WPLN News those students could benefit from the freeze on tuition hikes the most.

“They are the most at-risk of … dropping out or stopping out, based soley on costs,” Pupo-Walker said. “They just can’t cover the costs.”

The most recent average cost of tuition and fees, according to THEC, was nearly $10,000 per year at public universities and a little less than half that at community and technical colleges.