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Our Commitment to Students and Access

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President Eli Capilouto sent the following message to campus on Friday, July 10, 2020.

Dear Campus Community,

At the University of Kentucky, we emphasize that student success is at the heart of everything we do. Today, I’m pleased to announce another action that reinforces that principle.

This fall, UK will cap tuition and mandatory fees for all full-time undergraduate students regardless of how many in-person or online classes a student takes. For many students, the result will be a reduction in tuition of several hundred, if not thousands, of dollars.

So many of you are tirelessly working toward our reimagined fall semester and preparing for the first day of undergraduate instruction on August 17. As we return, it’s critical that our tuition pricing reflects fairness, consistency and a commitment to access and affordability.

Specifically, for this upcoming semester, tuition and mandatory fees will be capped at $6,242 for full-time undergraduate resident students and at $15,647 for non-resident students. That cap will be implemented irrespective of how many courses a student takes in-person, online or hybrid (combination of both).

As we plan our return to face-to-face instruction, we know that many students and faculty want the option to explore online, alternative or hybrid learning formats. Without the cap, the result for many undergraduate students would have been higher tuition and fees than they would have incurred with more in-person options.

That was unacceptable to us in the current environment.

We are among the country’s leaders — through programs like UK LEADS — in lowering the burden of the cost of education for more of our students. We estimate that this change to cap tuition will cost the university about $5 million this fall. But the cost to ensure greater access is worth it. Over the next few months, we will evaluate how we proceed with pricing for the spring 2021 semester.

The potential savings for our students are significant. For example, a full-time Kentucky undergraduate student taking 12 hours of courses face-to-face and three hours online would normally pay $7,937 in total tuition and mandatory fees. With the cap, the same student would pay $6,242 total for the same mix of courses — a savings of almost $1,700.

Already, our tuition increases this fall are the lowest they have been in more than 35 years, even as we have tripled the amount of scholarships and financial aid awarded to students over the last 10 years.

That’s who we are. That’s what we do.

Thank you for your continued commitment as we work to emerge from this time of challenge even stronger and better — and always, with student success at the heart of our efforts. 

Eli Capilouto