Five of the state's eight public universities are increasing tuition costs for their students. The IHL board says that inflation played a major role in the decision to increase costs, and that in-state tuition will increase by an average of $169 per year this Fall. Some of the universities have been steadily increasing tuition yearly since before the pandemic.
Steven Holley is the vice chancellor for administration and finance at the University of Mississippi. He says his university is seeing significant growth, and that often comes with higher costs that can be offset by a slight increase.
"In fact, almost all Southeastern conference schools [enrollment numbers] are going up by significant percentages." he said. "So when you have more students to teach, you need more teachers."
Holley says UM will be increasing its in-state tuition by 2 percent. Kierstan Dufour is the director of external training and partnerships with Get 2 College, a college access program of the Woodward Hinds Foundation. She says that Mississippi students need to utilize all financial aid options when planning for increased tuition costs, but even a change of plans might be necessary.
"Oftentimes we will see students that will maybe add a school to their list that they weren't considering" she said. "When it all comes out in like their financial aid package... sometimes their decisions do have to change."
A representative of Mississippi State says that the increased tuition cost is still reasonable compared to average costs regionally.
