WILLIAMSBURG — William & Mary will increase tuition for the second year in a row after years of the price remaining the same.
Tuition will increase by 2.5% for in-state undergraduate students and by 3.3% for out-of-state undergraduate students for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, according to a resolution passed by the W&M Board of Visitors on Friday.
That means for the 2025 fiscal year, tuition will go from $18,253 to $18,709 for in-state students and from $42,053 to $43,442 for out-of-state students per year. Tuition will go up to $19,178 for in-state and $44,876 for out-of-state students in fiscal year 2026.
Total costs, including fees, room and board, will go up by $1,792 (4.5%) for in-state undergrads, and they will go up by $2,725 (4.3%) for out-of-state undergrads. For fiscal year 2026, costs will go up another $1,699 (4.1%) for in-state students and $2,664 (4%) for out-of-state students. An average room rate increase of 6% is expected each year, which is consistent with the university’s housing and dining master plan.
That will bring the total cost for students for a regular year of schooling to $41,388 for in-state undergrads and $66,692 for out-of-state undergrads for FY25. Of those total costs, $15,654 of each will go to room and board. For FY26, the cost of a year of schooling will be $43,087 for in-state students and $69,356 for out-of-state students, and $16,601 of that will go toward room and board.
The new, longer-term tuition model is intended to help with cost predictability for students and their families.
Part-time undergrad tuition increased as well, going from $608 and $1,402 per credit hour for in-state and out-of-state students to $624 and $1,448, respectively, for FY25. It will increase to $639 per credit hour for in-state students and $1,496 for out-of-state students for FY26.
According to the university, about 80% of each tuition dollar goes into academic and student services.
Out of each dollar, 46 cents go to instruction; 15 cents go to need-based financial aid; 14 cents go to academic support services; and 4 cents go to student services. Additionally, 13 cents on the dollar go to institutional support and8 cents go to operations.
William & Mary President Katherine Rowe said the university tries to avoid raising costs if possible, and she pointed out that tuition remained the same for the five years leading up to last year’s increase.
“Our commitment is to raise it as low as possible at any given moment,” she said, going on to say inflation has “brought us to the point where we really have had to (raise tuition) in order to meet the needs and expectations of students and families.”
Portions of the money will go to student development and getting them ready for their next steps after college, she said.
Brian Woolfolk was the only member of the board of visitors to vote against tuition increasing.
“Tuition has gotten, I think, out of control at William & Mary,” he said. “It’s the most expensive in-state tuition in the country, and I’m embarrassed by that.”
“I think there are obviously cost pressures and there are obviously things that everyone would want to do, but you’ve got to start somewhere with arresting the rise of tuition.”
Woolfolk said the high costs of going to college have serious effects on families. “I don’t think we’re amply sensitive to that,” he said.
He said rising costs to attend college is a wide-reaching issue, and he said William & Mary is in the worst situation in the country. “It’s affecting people,” he said.
According to a release on William & Mary’s website, the university offers “the most generous financial aid from institutional sources of any Virginia public university.” In the 2023-24 academic year, the release said, just over half of students applied for financial aid, with a third receiving need-based aid from the university.
Sam Schaffer, samuel.schaffer@virginiamedia.com
