UTEP held an open forum for the university community to learn about a recent proposal drafted by school officials about a potential increase in tuition and fees on Tuesday afternoon at the Union Building.

The proposal could increase tuition and fees by 6.4% in the 2018-19 school year, and another 6.2% the following year. If approved, the tuition and fees hike will be geared toward retaining UTEP professors through salary increases and recruiting professors from competitive universities.

Vice President for Student Affairs Gary Edens, discussed the proposal to a full room of students, faculty, and staff. He broke down the differences in cost between UTEP and other Texas universities, explaining that UTEP has one of the lowest tuition costs not only in the state, but in the country as well. He added that growth in enrollment has added a demand for hiring more professors, but without the increase, it will not be possible.

“We feel that it’s a substantial increase to the students, but we also feel that it is needed to maintain academic quality, recruit and retain the very best faculty on our campus, and to maintain the success that UTEP is seeing not only locally, but nationally,” Edens said. “With the growth in enrollment, we simply need to hire some more staff in some of our operations, or we just can’t function.”

Final proposals are due to the UT System Office of Academic Affairs on Dec. 4, 2017.

For more information on the increase on tuition and fees, visit https://www.utep.edu/tuition/.

Watch the full presentation provided by the Student Government Association.