Editor’s Note: This story was updated with the budgeted college fee revenue for each academic college on June 4, 2025.
WKU’s in-state tuition will be over $6,000 a semester for the first time if the Board of Regents approves the $404 million operating budget proposed by President Timothy Caboni.
The proposed budget, released in advance of Friday’s quarterly regents’ meeting, increases in-state undergraduate tuition to $6,036 each semester from $5,826, but proposes no increases for non-resident or international students.
The money generated by tuition and fees is planned to go up by 2%, with a recommendation by university executive leadership of a 3.6% tuition rate increase. The budgeted tuition rates are determined based on the incoming freshman class of 2,800, according to the budget documents.
A 2% salary-increase pool for faculty and staff is planned for Jan. 1, 2026. The final decision regarding this increase will be made in the fall after the review of revenue projections, according to the documents.
In April, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education adopted resident undergraduate tuition and mandatory fee ceilings for public universities in Kentucky for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years. This allows universities to increase tuition rates by a maximum of $630 over two years and no more than $420 in one year.
The university also announced in April that it would replace course-based fees university-wide with college fees, ranging from $15 to $20 per credit hour. This change means WKU’s total revenue from fees will increase by 33%, to $14.15 million, for the 2025-26 school year.
According to the budget documents, the college fees will “simplify billing for students, spread costs more evenly, and provide colleges with greater flexibility in addressing instruction and student support needs to best serve learning and career preparation.”
The budgeted college fee revenue for each academic college:
- Gordon Ford College of Business: $1,058,000
- College of Education and Behavioral Sciences: $337,500
- Potter College of Arts and Letters: $1,487,000
- Ogden College of Science and Engineering: $1,250,000
- College of Health and Human Services: $1,612,900
Although the state legislature increased funding for the statewide higher education performance pool by $10 million to $115 million for 2025-26, “it will not be reflected as an increase to WKU,” according to the budget document.
The budget predicts a 4% decrease in performance funding for WKU, falling to $5.26 million.
Performance pool money is doled out to Kentucky’s eight state universities based on how they perform in student success, course completion and operational support.
The budget also indicates that WKU expects revenues it receives from the College Heights Foundation will increase by 89% due to fundraising associated with the new Gordon Ford College of Business and Hilltopper Fieldhouse.
The 2025-2026 budget also includes:
- a 13% “overhead surcharge” on revenue-dependent areas of the university, generating $619,000.
- an 8% decrease in maintenance, to $18.53 million.
- a 23% decrease in travel, to $6.21 million.
- a 16% increase in annual debt payments, to $19.34 million.
- a 9% reduction in institutional financial aid, including merit scholarships, the Hilltopper Guarantee and the border-state scholarships, to $54.34 million.
WKU’s Board of Regents will meet at 9 a.m. Friday in Jody Richards Hall.
