Cost of tuition and fees will be increasing effective immediately and over the next two years. The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved the increase on Monday, all of the UT Systems academic institutions including UTEP will experience the increase.

Most of the increases result in a two to four percent cost increase for resident undergraduate students. According to a press release from the UT System, all of the proposals include detailed plans on how this new revenue will be spent to serve the students and provide faculty support.

UTEP Vice President of Student Affairs and Chair of the Student-Majority Tuition and Fees Advisory Committee, Gary Edens, said in a statement sent out on Monday,

“We are very appreciative of the Board of Regents approving our tuition and fee increases. The committee engaged in a very consultative and collaborate process with all of our stakeholders for the proposal. All students have concerns about the cost of higher education, but UTEP students understand that their competitiveness upon graduation from UTEP relies on our capacity to provide them educational experiences comparable to those available to their peers in more affluent settings. Even with this modest increase, UTEP will still have the lowest net cost of research universities in Texas and in the nation.”

The UT Board of Regents first heard proposals from UT academic institutions at a Feb. 10 meeting in Galveston.

UT System Chancellor William H. McRaven told regents that an increase in tuition was necessary for UT schools to compete nationally.

“The fact is most of our tuition and fees are at or well below the national level and the fact is that tuition and fees are the single greatest driver for revenue which, if spent wisely, improves the quality of our schools.” McRaven said. “However, we remain sensitive to the financial challenges our students and their families face, and we very carefully consider their perspective when we make these recommendations.”

At UTEP, the increase in tuition and fees for in-state students will be about $163 per semester in 2016 and $170 in 2017. This is based off of a student taking 15 credit hours per semester.

Out-of-state students will be expected to pay and increase of $430 in 2016 and $450 in 2017 per semester. The increase will also affect graduate students—in-state graduate students will pay a $121 increase in 2016 and $126 for each semester in 2017; out-of-state graduate students will pay $282 in 2016 and $295 for each semester in 2017.

The last time UTEP requested approval for a tuition increase was in 2014, where the UT System Board Regents rejected their proposal along with several other UT System schools.

Amanda Guillen may be reached at [email protected].