Tuition is set to decrease 15%, the University announced Monday, making URochester one of the only universities in the world to see such a decrease in the last two centuries.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the email,” sophomore Lindsey Dahn said. “My suite group chat exploded when we got the email — we’re all so happy.”
Many students shared that feeling, some taking to Fizz, a popular anonymous social media site, Snapchat, and even Facebook to share their excitement and gratitude toward the University for their decision.
“I don’t agree with [the University administration] on a lot,” junior Liam Town wrote on Facebook, “but this is a really great thing they’re doing, and it makes life a lot easier, at least for me.”
In the same email, the University also pledged to work toward more generous financial aid packages, including for returning students.
“This is going to make it a lot easier to get my degree,” Town wrote. “Less money to pay means fewer hours at work and more time to manage homework.”
Tuition for the 2025-26 academic year was $69,030 with an additional $20,466 for housing and food, leading to an overall sticker price of $89,496. A 15% decrease in tuition means URochester’s sticker price for 2026-27 will drop by about $10,000 to approximately $79,000.
Most students don’t pay that $69,030 figure; average tuition paid including financial aid is $38,156 in 2025-26, which, if everything else stays the same, is projected to become $32,432 next year. Considering the University’s pledge to increase aid, however, that number might decrease further.
University spokesperson Clara Muller shared the reason for the decrease: “The University is here to serve students, and figuring out how to make their experience as smooth as possible is a part of that.”
In order to lower tuition, University administration had to choose areas from which to cut funding. The final decision comes in the wake of a year-long review conducted by the Office of the Bursar, led by Director Bernadette Hamil.
“We started by breaking down all University spending, and that means everything, even URMC,” Hamil said. “We realized, for example, there’s no need to be paying a professor of orthopedics nearly $3.5 million dollars a year.”
The University hopes to make similar cuts in the future, and use the saved funds to improve student experiences.
“The goal is to make student life better in general, and part of that, a large part, will come from tuition decreases, but some comes from things like directing more funds toward supplementing the student activities fee,” Hamil said.
Whatever progress is to be made in the future, students throughout campus are excited for next year in light of this new announcement.
“It makes me feel like the University actually cares, you know,” Dahn said. “It feels like they heard us and did everything they could to make a change, and we, well my friends at least, really appreciate it.”
