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School of Engineering differential tuition increase on hold, will be examined next year

October 27, 2022 - by Kim Delker

After hearing input from students, The University of New Mexico School of Engineering will table until next year a proposal to increase the differential tuition for undergraduates registered under a School of Engineering degree program code.

Currently, the School’s differential tuition is set at $15.80 per credit hour, which has remained the same since 2015. The School proposed an increase of $10 per credit hour for a total differential tuition of $25.80 per credit hour, with the implementation date in fall 2023.

In September, School of Engineering leadership presented the proposal to the Engineering Student Council for feedback, then additional feedback was sought from students for 30 days via an online survey. Nearly 100 students completed the survey, with the majority voting against the increase.

“Like everyone, we are concerned about inflation and rising prices, which are especially hitting a lot of our students very hard,” said Christos Christodoulou, Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing. “After seeing the feedback from the survey, we have decided to take another look at this, seek some additional input and reexamine this in 2023.”

According to UNM policy, increases in differential tuition can be implemented only in the fall semester. Before becoming official, in addition to seeking student feedback, the proposal will require approval from the UNM provost and executive vice president for academic affairs as well as the UNM Board of Regents.

The School of Engineering proposed the differential tuition increase to help offset costs that have continued to rise even faster than tuition increases, especially the costs of laboratory equipment and software, which are essential to a modern and high-quality engineering education.

The revenues generated from differential tuition are distributed by the dean to each department in proportion to enrollment. All of the tuition paid by UNM Engineering students goes back to the School to help pay for expenses such as teaching assistants in classes and labs, undergraduate advising, the enhancement of student services like tutoring and extra programming, and even may be used to subsidize costs for textbooks and other required materials for students.