UConn Student Fees Staying Flat, But Housing, Meal Costs Rising

STORRS, CT — The University of Connecticut is keeping mandatory student activities and services fees flat for 2024-25 academic year, but the school plans to "update" housing and dining fees to meet "commodity cost increases, rental market inflation, and demand trends."

That means there will be some increases.

The UConn Board of Trustees Wednesday endorsed the school's FY25 fee schedule, which its financial affairs committee unanimously approved a day earlier.

UConn officials said the goal was to:

• Keep fee increases "modest and in line with financial aid funding and projections moving forward
• Help offset rising costs of food, utilities, and other necessary commodities
• Reflect demand for specific housing types and remain competitive with off-campus options

The mandatory fees not going up cover various UConn's student services and activities.

The changes in housing and dining rates go into effect with the new fiscal year starting July 1, 2024, and do not affect the five-year tuition plan adopted in 2019 for fiscal years 2021-25. The changes reflect inflationary increases that "continue to put pressure on UConn’s budget, forcing it to balance the needs for additional revenue against remaining affordable for students and competitive with other schools and off-campus housing options," officials said.

Food and beverage costs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, determined that costs increased an average of 9 percent across the industry last year, UConn Dining Services Director Michael White said. The inflation on some items was almost double that amount, he added.

With that, UConn’s average anticipated FY25 rates – $7,850 for the most common housing option and $6,530 for the most common dining plan – are among the lowest of the schools against which it competes head-to-head for student enrollment, officials said. The dining rates for FY25 will increase between $166 and $182 depending on the meal plan selected.

In determining housing rates, the University looked both at costs that need to be covered and at demand for various kinds of rooms and units, and calibrated its rates accordingly, officials said. Demand is highest for apartment-style and suite-style doubles in certain complexes; single and double rooms in the Peter J. Werth Residence Hall; and some other options, with requests outpacing available beds in each category by many hundreds in a typical year.

The new housing rates reflect that demand, officials said, with rates for those housing options increasing by 5 percent, along with Stamford student housing rates. Lower-demand units at Storrs, which represents 75 percent of available beds, will have rate increases of 2.75 percent for regular double, triple, and quad rooms.

Rates for the new South Campus Residence Hall, which opens for the start of the fall 2024 semester, also were set at ranges reflecting the anticipated high demand and amenities of that modern complex, officials said.

Officials said the university increases financial aid to help students meet adjustments to their costs of attendance. In the current fiscal year, UConn substantially boosted the amount of financial aid it allocates to students, with that total increasing from $259.2 million in FY23 to $283.1 million this year, officials said.

Of that, the institutionally funded amount that comes as a portion of tuition revenue increased from $162.5 million last year to $181.2 million this year. The rest comes from federal sources such as the Pell Grant, state programs, scholarships funded by specific departments, and scholarships from private sources such as donor endowments, officials said.

About 65 percent of UConn undergraduates receive some form of gift aid they do not have to repay.

State law requires the university to set aside at least 15 percent of its tuition revenue for need-based aid, but UConn voluntarily exceeds that each year, and set aside 16.5 percent this year, officials said.

FY25 also marks the final year of UConn’s five-year tuition plan, although Wednesday's vote on the housing and dining rates does not affect those figures.

With those changes and the housing and dining rates adjusted, the cost of attendance for in-state Storrs undergraduates who live on campus – using the most popular meal plan and in the most common housing – would increase by about 3 percent, or about $1,062.

For graduate students living on campus in Northwood Apartments, it would be about 3.48 percent higher, or about $1,320.

In-state students attending UConn Stamford and living in student housing there would pay about 4.3 percent more in FY24 than the current year, or about $1,234.

Undergraduates at the other regional campuses, where UConn does not operate student housing, would pay about 3.88 percent more to reflect the $678 tuition increase, officials said.

More details on changes to specific fees are outlined in the agenda item and presentation made this week to trustees and their financial affairs committee. Separate tuition rates also apply for students in UConn's social work, dental, medical, law, pharmacy, and other specialty programs.