Students at Vermont Technical College and other schools within the Vermont State University will benefit from the price change. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

Tuition at the Vermont State University will be 15% lower, on average, than what students currently pay, according to a press release Friday.

The $9,999 yearly undergraduate tuition will take effect in July 2023 and will line up with the launch of the new university. Students at Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College will benefit from the price change. 

The institutions make up the Vermont State Colleges System, along with the Community College of Vermont.

The Vermont State Colleges System’s board of trustees unanimously approved the price decrease earlier this week. It also lowered the base out-of-state tuition rate, which will start at $19,988. 

According to Friday’s release, approximately 70% of Vermont State University students are Vermont residents. 

“When you set a lower price, you remove a barrier of access and you make college education that much more in reach and that much more attainable to people,” said Katherine Levasseur, director of external and governmental affairs. 

Often students are put off by sticker prices on college websites and make decisions at that moment about whether or not they can attend, Levasseur said. She also noted that Pell Grant coverage will go farther with the new tuition prices. 

Current students will see the tuition change reflected in financial aid adjustments, according to the release. 

Since 2021, the Vermont Legislature has increased the state colleges’ base appropriation from $30 million to $45 million. In the press release, board chair Lynn Dickenson credited those “historic investments.”

“Make no mistake, this lower tuition rate is possible because the state increased their annual financial support of the colleges by 50% over the last two years,” Dickenson said.

Vermont historically has had high rates of tuition for in-state students, and school officials pushed for years for more financial support from the state. 

For the last two school years, the college system froze tuition levels.

The tuition change announced Friday puts it more in line with the national average of $9,400, according to the release.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont State University to cut tuition by 15% for in-state students.