News
Tech Board of Trustees approves major reduction to out-of-state tuition
Tennessee Tech’s Board of Trustees took steps today to make college costs easier to
understand and to help position the university as a strong option for domestic out-of-state
students.
Starting Fall 2020, Tech will have a single out-of-state tuition fee instead of the current three rates, which are dependent on numerous factors. The new single fee is a flat rate of $2,100 per semester for full-time out-of-state undergraduate students. Full-time out-of-state graduate students will pay $1,680 per semester. Both part-time undergraduate and graduate out-of-state students will pay $140 per credit hour.
Current out-of-state students face three different fee levels, dependent on what situation they fall into: Domestic out-of-state, R250 (which means they graduated from a high school within 250 miles of Tennessee Tech) or E-Rate tuition (which applies to out-of-state students taking only online classes). These fees range from $160 per credit hour to $661 per credit hour.
Out-of-state fees are in addition to Tech’s in-state tuition fees. This reduction applies to domestic out-of-state students only, and not to international students.
In other matters brought before the board:
- Associate Professor Jeanette Wolak, along with Tech students, provided the board with information about Tech’s Geoclub, a student organization devoted to the geosciences. The club recently won first place in the 36th Annual GeoConclave, a geological competition among Tennessee colleges. Tech has won the championship 19 times, which is more than any other university in the state.
- Robert Owens was named as interim vice president for Student Affairs. Owens currently serves as the assistant vice president for Student Affairs and oversees the university’s Diversity Scholarship, Intercultural Affairs, Service Learning and RACE program. He holds four degrees from Tech, including a Ph.D. in Exceptional Learning. He joined the university as a full-time employee in 2006. He will serve as interim during Tech’s national search for a permanent replacement for long-time Vice President for Student Affairs Marc Burnett, who retires at the end of this month. Burnett will continue as the university’s Chief Diversity Officer on a part-time basis.
- The university’s four mandatory fees will be simplified by making them consistent in the amount of credit hours they apply to, and packaging them into one “Program Service Fee.” There was no increase to the total of the four fees and the change goes into effect Fall 2020.
- The Academic and Student Affairs committee approved a Letter of Notification to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission regarding a new Bachelor of Science degree in Fine Arts. The expected state for this new degree program is Fall 2020.
Materials from today’s meeting and the webcast of the full board meeting are available at the board’s website, www.tntech.edu/board.
The board’s next meeting is March 12, 2020.
