TOME — For the fifth consecutive academic year, The University of New Mexico-Valencia campus Advisory Board has voted unanimously to not increase tuition and fees for students.
During a special meeting of The UNM-Valencia campus Advisory Board on Monday, Feb. 21, the board voted unanimously to keep tuition and fees flat for the coming 2022-23 academic year.
Tuition and fees for resident students will stay at $78.25 per credit hour, and non-resident students will pay $213.75 a credit hour.
The last time the board approved an increase was for the 2017-18 academic year, raising resident tuition and fees from $75.25 to the current rate and non-resident costs from $203.99 per credit hour.
UNM-Valencia Chancellor Dr. Alice Letteney said the UNM main campus budget office asked for the local campus’ tuition rates earlier than usual this year. The UNM-Valencia Advisory Board usually considers tuition changes in March, when it reviews its annual budget.
Letteney said there will be a public budget meeting held sometime this month. Both the budget and any tuition changes go before the UNM Board of Regents for final approval.
“We make our own tuition policy and report to the regents,” Letteney said. “The board of regents has been very good about letting us do what we want with tuition; they respect us to make our own decisions. They ultimately do have to approve tuition.”
UNM-Valencia Advisory Board Chairman Paul Luna said increasing tuition could negatively effect students at the branch campus.
“We don’t want to lose any potential students and people have been having a tough time during the pandemic,” Luna said.
Newly elected board member Joleen Chavez asked if a tuition increase would cover the expected increase to health insurance for campus teachers.
Rick Goshorn, director of business operations, said tuition is a very small part of the campus’ financing.
“The majority of our funds come from state appropriations and the local mill levy,” Goshorn said. “It would take a substantial increase to add anything of substance to the budget. I would suggest you look at tuition not as a financial component but as a general ‘What are we doing with students and how it will effect them?’”
Goshorn added the campus could adsorb the anticipated cost of nearly $11,000 for the increased health care without changing anything in its budget.
“We’re in fine shape,” he said of the UNM-Valencia budget.
Julia M. Dendinger began working at the VCNB in 2006. She covers Valencia County government, Belen Consolidated Schools and the village of Bosque Farms. She is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande chapter’s board of directors.
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April 18, 2024
