Idaho State Board Approves Tuition Increases at 4-Year Institutions

The Idaho State Board of Education today unanimously approved a 3-percent increase in resident tuition and fees at each of Idaho’s public four-year institutions.

The institutions made their requests to fully fund the change in employee compensation (CEC) approved during the recent legislative session and to address increased inflation-related costs.

Here is what the increase means for yearly resident tuition and fee costs for academic year 2024/25:

The Board approved the requests after hearing from the institutions and from elected student leaders who voiced support for the increases during the Board’s meeting held at University of Idaho in Moscow.

“Over the past few years, inflation has been higher than 3 percent and so by approving 3 percent tuition and fee increase we are implicitly asking each institution to become more efficient, and I struggle with how long we can do this,” Board Member Kurt Liebich said. “Strategically, how do we use our scholarships, how do we discount in a way that allows us to achieve the goals of educating citizens of Idaho while keeping our institutions solvent, it’s going to be a tricky balancing act over the next four or five years.”

Other Board actions include:

• Approved a University of Idaho request to begin the design phase to expand the Huckabay Medical Education Building, used for the Washington Wyoming Alaska Montana Idaho (WWAMI) medical education program.  The design phase will cost just over $800,000. The expansion would add approximately 5,000 square feet and add additional classrooms and faculty office space. Construction will cost approximately $3.5 million.
• Approved Boise State University’s request to offer an online Master of Arts in Digital Communications.
• Approved Idaho State University’s request to create and offer a Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice that would enable nurse practitioners to train and earn credentials to administer anesthesia.

The Board also elected to retain Dr. Linda Clark as President, Board Member Bill Gilbert as Vice President and Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield as Board Secretary.

Idaho law requires the Board to elect officers “at its first meeting after the first day of April.” House Bill 521, recently approved and signed into law provides that the president of the Board shall be selected by the Governor. Because HB 521 doesn’t go into effect until July 1, 2024, the slate of officers was determined in consultation with the Governor’s office.