CU freezes tuition costs for the upcoming school year

BOULDER, Colo. (KRDO) — The University of Colorado Board of Regents voted to approve a zero percent increase in tuition and fees for the 2020–21 academic year at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

The resolutions that passed included the following:

• A zero percent increase in tuition for undergraduate students including resident, nonresident and international students.
• A zero percent increase in tuition for graduate and professional students.
• Proposed changes to student fees. 
• The suspension of merit increases for CU employees, including the Boulder campus, for the fiscal year 2021.

Students entering in the fall of 2020 will pay the same tuition as students who entered in the fall of 2018 and 2019. 

Total combined tuition and fees for incoming Colorado resident freshmen and transfer students in the CU Boulder College of Arts and Sciences will be $12,500.

That cost will be the same for those students for four years thanks to the school's tuition guarantee that was established in 2016.

Incoming nonresident students will see a zero percent tuition increase. Their tuition is also guaranteed to remain the same for four years.

“We want to ensure access for our students and their families during this time,” Chancellor Philip DiStefano said in a statement. “Two years of no tuition increases, plus CU Boulder’s existing tuition guarantee, helps families plan for the future.”

For detailed costs including room and board and indirect costs, you can visit the Bursar’s Office website, which will be updated no later than May 21.

Meanwhile, the university is working to address revenue loss from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Cost-saving measures already implemented on the Boulder campus include:

• Suspension of merit increases for fiscal year 2021.
• Ten percent salary reductions for the chancellor, provost, chief operating officer, deans, vice chancellors and associate vice chancellors (who will take two unpaid furlough days every month during fiscal year 2021).
• Restrictions on hiring, including a hiring freeze for all nonessential positions.

So far, 447 employees have been notified about being continuously furloughed on or before June 1, according to the university. The employees will keep their university benefits and be able to apply for unemployment benefits. 

The university said the intention of these cost saving efforts is to get itself financially ready to bring furloughed employees back as soon as possible.