Virginia Tech will raise tuition by 2.9% for the 2024-2025 academic year, a unanimous decision made by the school’s board of visitors at a Tuesday meeting that was briefly interrupted by a student protest.
Tuition will rise by $372 for in-state undergraduate students to $13,153, and by $982 for out-of-state undergraduates, bringing their tuition to $34,376 for the year.
Graduate students will also see tuition increase by 2.9%, with the exception of students at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, which will each see tuition rise by 2.5%.
“The board doesn’t take these actions lightly,” Rector Edward Baine said following the vote. He said the board continues to balance the needs of students, faculty and staff with the university’s goals, including “making sure Virginia Tech continues to be a leader in everything we do.”
The comprehensive fee — a mandatory annual fee that goes toward student health and counseling services, student activities, student services including transportation and wireless internet, athletics and recreational sports — will increase by 3.8%, or $99, to $2,684 annually.
President Tim Sands commended the board for approving a modest tuition and fee increase despite high inflation and uncertainty around funding in the state budget that has yet to be finalized.
The state university in Blacksburg has a total student body of about 38,000. About 30,000 of them are undergraduates.
Virginia Tech set a record for applications for fall 2024, receiving more than 52,000 for a total of about 7,000 freshman slots. The school pushed its deposit deadline for new students from May 1 to May 15 this spring to account for the launch of the new federal student aid application process, which has delayed financial aid decisions for many students nationwide.
The university has measures in place to ensure affordability for some students in addition to federal student aid, including the Virginia Tech Advantage initiative that seeks to bridge the gap between financial aid and the cost of attending for up to 5,500 students. And returning undergraduates with family income of less than $100,000 won’t incur a tuition hike due to the Funds for the Future program that covers the difference.
But Funds for the Future, for one, can only be applied to tuition and fees. The university is also raising the price tag for other aspects of attending.
Room charges will increase by 4%, or between $245 and $467 annually depending on housing category. Dining plans will increase 7%, or between $367 and $421, depending on the student’s plan.
In total, the total annual cost for the majority of Virginia students living on campus will increase by $1,086, to $28,308. For most out-of-state students, it will increase by $1,696 to $50,135.
The price of tuition at Virginia Tech has risen at about half the rate of national consumer price inflation over the past five years, the university argued in materials presented to the board. All the while, the university has absorbed some unavoidable results of inflation, including wage pressures and rising utility costs.
Tech has the lowest comprehensive fee among four-year public schools in Virginia, according to a chart provided by the school. But the mandatory fee continues to be a point of contention between the university and its students, particularly graduate students.
In a comment submitted for a March public hearing hosted by the university, graduate student Oliver Shuey said, “I’m fortunate enough to receive assistantship funding through my department, but the level of support is still insufficient because of the cost of living.”
He noted that for the 2023-2024 year, about $210 was deducted from his graduate assistantship stipend paycheck to go toward his comprehensive fee, out of his total biweekly income of about $1,100.
“I understand that my graduate education is a privilege, but I find living paycheck-to-paycheck while studying at a globally ranked university to be demoralizing.”
Sands’ remarks during the board meeting Tuesday were briefly interrupted by about a dozen people who chanted for university leaders to “pick a side: human rights or genocide” in the war between Israel and Hamas. The pro-Palestine group held signs calling for the university to divest from sources that may contribute to Israel’s military presence in Gaza.
The group was seated behind Sands, who approached them and said the meeting needed to continue. But when the chants continued, Sands let campus police take over to escort the protestors from the room. A university spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon that no arrests were made.
Sands then said that while he supports student protests, this one disrupted the meeting. “I don’t appreciate being interrupted,” he said.
Shouting could be heard through the windows as the protest continued outside Torgersen Hall with calls of “Free, free Palestine” for about 10 minutes following the conclusion of Sands’ remarks.