Tuition and fees for undergraduate students on the main campus will increase by 9.9 percent next fall. The decision by the UNM Board of Regents came at the end of two days of discussion about budget options.
Student representatives to the board agreed to the increases on the condition that the board adequately fund academic expansions such as hiring new faculty, improving student advisement and increasing funding for the freshman learning experiences. The board asked university administrators to find ways to fund those items and present a formal budget plan at their June meeting.
The tuition resolution included additional tuition charges for graduate students enrolled in the Anderson Schools of Management and the School of Law. Those increases of $770.20 per year are in addition to the 9.9 percent tuition hike. Deans of both the Law School and Anderson Schools of Management said they had discussed the possibility and need for those fee increases with students. The money will be used to fund operations for the departments.
Regents also voted to give faculty and staff a 3.25 percent salary increase. The salary increases will be given to departments, which may choose to allocate some of the funds for merit raises, for market competitive salary levels and to address salary inequities for individual employees.
In addition to that, the university will pay a .75 percent increase in the educational retirement contribution for each employee. The increase in retirement fund contributions is required by law to strengthen the long-term viability of the education retirement fund.
The university administration now has the difficult job of trying to find money to pay for hiring enough new faculty members to teach the projected increase of 500 students in the fall freshman class, along with other funding priorities.
Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627