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Western Michigan University is sharply cutting its quoted nonresident undergraduate tuition rates, attempting to boost recruitment beyond the state’s borders and breaking with a well-documented trend of many public colleges and universities balancing budgets by charging out-of-state students significantly higher prices.
The university’s Board of Trustees voted this week to set tuition for future nonresident undergraduates at 1.25 times the rate for Michigan residents. The lower rate, which kicks in for new students this summer, is a steep reduction from current published rates that have nonresident undergraduates paying 2.3 times the rate Michigan students pay.
While 2017-18 tuition rates have not been announced, the reduction would mean a new nonresident freshman or sophomore would pay less than $15,000 in basic annual tuition and fees -- down from $26,851 -- if the tuition rates are similar to those for 2016-17.
But the cuts may not be as drastic in dollars as they appear on paper. Nonresidents were already receiving large financial aid packages, cutting their effective cost of attendance to near the newly enacted rates.
“The new basic rates that are set at 1.25 times resident rates will align incoming nonresident student costs with the net effective costs our current nonresidents are paying after financial aid packages are factored in,” said Jan Van Der Kley, Western Michigan’s vice president for business and finance, in a university news release. “We'll be able to recruit students with a more reasonable published nonresident cost that leaves a more favorable perception and keeps us in the mix when those students are making their college selection.”
The changes are intended to allow Western Michigan to better compete for out-of-state students, as the number of Michigan high school graduates is projected to fall precipitously over the next decade. Western Michigan’s fall 2016 enrollment dropped 1.3 percent to 23,252. Michigan residents made up 86 percent of the student body.
The changes only apply to new undergraduates. Currently enrolled students will continue to pay tuition and fees based on the current ratio. The changes do not affect graduate students.
Western Michigan noted that it follows a liberal residency policy, allowing many students to become Michigan residents and qualify for in-state rates. But that policy will change for newly enrolled students starting this summer. They will no longer have the option of changing their residency status at the university.
