Members of the Washington State University Board of Regents voted to raise tuition for undergraduate and graduate students by 3.3% for the 2026-27 academic year during Friday's meeting in Seattle.

For an in-state undergraduate student, the change will result in a $385 increase in annual tuition, while graduate students from Washington will pay an additional $445. The board will set tuition rates for professional student programs at a subsequent meeting.

While tuition revenue remains pivotal to funding the work of the state's land grant university, WSU has made significant strides to address affordability.

Approximately 36% of in-state undergraduate students receive scholarships or financial aid and pay no tuition out of pocket, improving from 31% a decade ago. The proportion of these students paying full tuition has similarly fallen during this timeframe, from 42% to 35%. These successes have resulted in the proportion of in-state undergraduates who complete their studies with no loan debt to skyrocket, from 29.6% in 2014 to more than 56% in 2024.

Significant work has been done, WSU President Elizabeth Cantwell said, and will continue to be done "to ensure that the published tuition rate is not what most people actually pay."

That work, she continued, "is work that happens after tuition rates are set to ensure that the majority of people who have capacity to get financial aid pay no tuition whatsoever."

Executive updates

During Thursday's committee meetings, regents heard updates on ongoing strategic initiatives related to the future of the university.

Cantwell provided an overview of key performance indicators being used to assess work being done around the university's research enterprise. Critical to these efforts is securing new external research funding and developing more robust partnerships across fields of scholarship with public and private organizations.

Highlights include the university securing more than $90 million in AI-related external funding as well as WSU researchers producing more than 1,100 AI-related publications. These efforts directly impact efforts around public health and environmental policy, such as efforts to predict and model wildfire risk and curtailing potential pandemics.

Read more: WSU adopts strategic pillars to guide university's future

Regents also received an updated on the WSU Systemwide Redesign project from Provost and Executive Vice President Chris Riley Tillman and newly appointed Vice President of Institutional Affairs and Chief Administrative Officer Kerri Davidson.

The university recently launched a survey to collect the Cougar community's thoughts and perspectives as the university positions itself to best serve its faculty, staff, students and communities in the years to come. To date, more than 850 people have completed the survey, which is available online. The survey closes Dec. 5.

Other actions

During Friday's meeting in Seattle, regents voted on several other action items.

Among these was approving the project budget for the Cougar Athletics Fan and Student Athlete Experience at Gesa Field, which will bring an upgraded videoboard, sound system and LED lights to the home of WSU football. The total project budget was set at $12 million and is being entirely funded by private donations.

In order to get the improvements done in time for the 2026 football season, the university must raise $8 million in donor support by Dec. 15. WSU Athletics has already secured $6 million in signed pledges and a further $725,000 in verbal commitments, Jon Haarlow, interim director of athletics, told regents Thursday. Regents also approved a general revenue obligation resolution to help fund the project.

Regent Marty Dickinson thanked the private donors stepping up to fund this project, noting that the university was able to undertake a similar project with its Cougar Baseball Clubhouse.

"I appreciate the effort and the work and want those that are listening to understand that we have a proven track record of taking private donor money and being able to do projects like this at WSU and look forward to doing more of those, not necessarily just for athletics, but for all things WSU," she said.

Regents also voted to name the next recipients of the Regents Distinguished Alumni Award. More information about the winners will be announced at a later date.

A significant renovation to the Southside Dining and Market rotunda on the Pullman campus, as well as moving the Department of Social Work from the College of Nursing to the College of Education, Sport and Human Sciences, were also approved by regents.

Members of the board also heard a presentation on a new study of the university's economic impact, the first such examination since 2015. The study found WSU's economic impact from its operations alone total $4 billion, with $12 being generated for every $1 in state appropriations.

The next meetings of the WSU Board of Regents is scheduled to take place Jan. 22-23 on the WSU Spokane campus. More information about the regents is available online.