Incoming freshmen at Ohio State University might be facing a tuition increase. How much exactly will they have to pay? That’s to be determined later this summer.
Members of Ohio State Board of Trustees’ Finance and Investment Committee voted to approve tuition and fee increases for fiscal year 2026 at the committee’s quarterly meeting May 14.
Proposed increases for in-person and online program tuition and fees for incoming first-year students, non-resident surcharges, international surcharges, housing and dining will all be officially determined once Ohio’s biennial budget is finalized later this summer.
“In alignment with the state budget process, the Finance and Investment Committee passed a resolution authorizing (Ohio State President Ted Carter), in consultation with the board, to set undergraduate tuition and fees for incoming first-year students after the state budget is passed and signed,” Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson said.
Returning in-state second, third and fourth year undergraduates won’t see any tuition or fee changes because of the Ohio State Tuition Guarantee, which locks in tuition, housing and dining costs for each undergraduate cohort for four years.
Trustees did approve a 3.98% increase in student health insurance costs. The committee also approved a 3% increase to base tuition and fees for in-person and online graduate and professional student programs, as well as a 4% non-resident surcharge for those programs.
Ohio graduate students will now pay $14,318 in tuition and fees, a $417 increase over last fiscal year. Domestic non-residents and international students will pay $44,310 this academic year, an increase of $1,570.
Several programs in the College of Engineering, College of Law and College of Medicine also proposed fee increases.
Ohio State trustees have raised tuition and fees between 3% and 4.6% for in-state undergraduates each fiscal year for the past several years.
“Ohio State will continue to provide an affordable, high-quality education,” Johnson said.
In fiscal year 2025, more than 50,000 Ohio State students received a total of approximately $525 million in financial aid, according to the university. Approximately 80% of Ohio State students receive some type of financial aid and 57% graduate without loans.
Ohio State’s Board of Trustees will all vote to approve the resolution during its full public board meeting on May 21.
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State could raise undergraduate tuition after trustee approval
Reporting by Sheridan Hendrix, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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