While freshman enrollment saw slight increases systemwide for the second year in a row this fall, the overall student population declined by approximately 3%. Regents expect that number to continue to decline next year, shifting some of the resulting financial pressure onto students.

Several students testified against the tuition increase, with some pointing out that 3.3% could be the difference in access to higher education. Student Regent Kassandra Vogel was the only vote against, as her peers have made raising rates a nine-year tradition.

“As some students have said, you know that an increase in tuition can really impact their bottom line and their ability to meet some of those basic needs,” Vogel said. “That’s really what a lot of this comes down to.”

The other regents also expressed the weight of their decisions and that they are not taken lightly.

According to a presentation According to the board, the 3.3 percent tuition hike will cost undergraduates about $370 more per year if they live in Washington. Out-of-state undergraduates will see their annual tuition increase by about $920, and slightly more for graduate students.

State law allows the regents to increase tuition each year by the average annual growth rate of the median hourly wage over the past 14 years, which is currently 3.3 percent. The board also approved increasing tuition by the maximum allowed 3 percent last year.

Tuition and fees make up about 19 percent of WSU’s $1.3 billion budget, the second-largest source of revenue after state appropriations, which make up 26 percent; however, this could change as Parliament projects an operating deficit of more than $12 billion over the next four years.

In the meantime, registration has dropped more than 16% systemwide, or more than 5,100 students, since fall 2019, shortly before the pandemic. This decrease increases to nearly 19%, a loss of nearly 4,000 students if we consider enrollment since 2019 for the main Pullman campus alone.

The tuition hike raises undergraduate tuition costs about 17% from when enrollment peaked around 2019. In-state students will pay about $11,600 for tuition next year, and out-of-state students will pay nearly $28,800.

According to the presentation, resident undergraduate students already pay about $13,391 after tuition and fees, the highest in the state behind the University of Washington at about $12,973. WSU’s current tuition exceeds UW by nearly $600 per year, with fees nearly $1,000.

WSU expects the new tuition rates to increase revenue by about $3.6 million in the next fiscal year.

“We’re facing a new pressure that we haven’t necessarily had to deal with,” Regent Marty Dickinson said, “with our state tightening its budget and leading us to expect this to be a very difficult legislative session.”