# NU Regents Approve 4.25% Tuition Hike, $8 Million in Budget Cuts  
**Published:** 2026-06-18T18:57:49.000Z  
**Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/18/regents-vote-to-increase-nu-tuition-by-4-25-cut-8-million-in-next-1-19-billion-budget/)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/nu-regents-approve-4-25-tuition-hike-8-million-in-budget-cuts

LINCOLN, Neb. — The University of Nebraska Board of Regents voted Thursday to increase tuition rates across the system by approximately 4.25% for the fall semester, marking the fourth consecutive annual increase, according to a [Nebraska Examiner report](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/18/regents-vote-to-increase-nu-tuition-by-4-25-cut-8-million-in-next-1-19-billion-budget/).

The regents approved the move in a 6-2 vote, approving NU's $1.19 billion operating budget. The tuition increase translates to a per-credit-hour rise of $12 for resident University of Nebraska-Lincoln undergraduates and $40 for nonresident UNL undergraduates, with graduate students seeing increases of $16 and $48 respectively.

The budget also includes $8 million in cuts, though NU President Jeffrey Gold said much of those reductions have already been achieved through voluntary retirement programs, administrative consolidation and operational efficiency improvements.

Regents Kathy Wilmot of Beaver City and Rob Schafer of Beatrice again opposed the tuition hike, continuing their dissent from last year's 5% increase. Wilmot expressed concern about the cumulative effect on students facing rising housing costs and fees. "I'm afraid we are pricing students out of their opportunity to get them an education, and that's not what I came here to do," Wilmot said.

Gold and other regents acknowledged affordability concerns but said the inflation-based increase was necessary to mitigate future budget cuts and provide pay raises to non-unionized faculty and staff. NU received only a 0.62% increase in state funding for the next budget year, far short of the 3.5% annual increase regents had requested. Regent Barbara Weitz of Omaha warned that incremental cost increases eventually price students out entirely. "It seems like this is pretty small, 'students can handle this,' but then you add the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, and pretty soon, it's out of reach," Weitz said.

Regent Tim Clare of Lincoln, in his 18th year on the board and not seeking reelection, urged the university to identify priorities in which Nebraska can "lead the world" to help stabilize the state's economy. Jim Scheer, a former state legislator and current regent, noted higher education faces a "precarious situation" nationwide, with some universities forced to eliminate entire campuses as NU has eliminated departments and programs.

## Sources

- [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/18/regents-vote-to-increase-nu-tuition-by-4-25-cut-8-million-in-next-1-19-billion-budget/)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/18/regents-vote-to-increase-nu-tuition-by-4-25-cut-8-million-in-next-1-19-billion-budget/.