LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 7, 2022) — A proposed $5.6 billion budget for the University of Kentucky for 2022-2023 continues a five-year trend of holding down costs for students, while significantly increasing investments in financial aid and initiatives that will advance the state.
In fact, if approved, proposed increases in tuition and mandatory fees of 2% will mean that the average increase in those numbers over the last four years will be 1.6% – far below inflation and several percentage points below average annual increases a decade ago.
“The numbers underscore the fact that we are a growing enterprise, in scope and scale, depth and breadth,” said UK President Eli Capilouto. “But I believe they also signify something else – a palpable and real sense of momentum we have in meeting our mission to advance the Commonwealth.”
The UK Board of Trustees will vote on the proposed budget at its June 17 meeting. Board members this week are reviewing details of the budget. At $5.6 billion, the UK budget has more than doubled in the last decade and is some $500 million more than it was last year.
That trajectory of growth, Capilouto said, reflects three primary factors:
- Continued growth in the UK HealthCare enterprise where hospital revenues have grown by 200 percent in the last decade.
- Significant enrollment growth in the coming year. Capilouto said UK is expected to welcome the largest first-year class in history in August, approximately 6,000 students.
- A historic state budget in which policymakers have made the largest ever commitment to UK with investments of more than $483 million in operating dollars and capital and trust funds for infrastructure over the next two years. The state is putting forward $80 million more for performance funding over the next two years, allocated through 11 performance metrics around goals such as growth in enrollment and graduates as well as students in fields such as engineering and health. Because UK is the only institution in the state to exceed the average growth rate in all 11 metrics, the university will receive an additional $24.8 million in performance funding this year.
Capilouto said the proposed budget advances Kentucky in three primary ways: investments in students, investments in people and continued investments where UK’s students and people live, learn and do their work.
Investing in Students
In terms of continued efforts to hold down costs, Kentucky undergraduate students would pay $6,429.50 in tuition and mandatory fees for the fall 2022 semester, up from $6,305 in fall 2021.
Those costs will be offset, in large measure, by a record $160 million in financial aid that doesn’t have to be repaid.
By way of context, in 2021, more than 90% of full-time, resident, undergraduate students received financial aid; 25% of full-time undergraduate students …….