University of Alabama System campuses will keep in-state tuition prices the same this upcoming school year, officials announced Friday.

This year marks the sixth year in a seven-year period that in-state tuition at The University of Alabama has remained flat, and the fifth year that tuition at University of Alabama at Huntsville and University of Alabama at Birmingham has not increased.

Last year, the University of Alabama increased tuition by 3% for in-state students and 4% for out-of-state students.

The University of Montevallo also will freeze tuition for the sixth year in a row, officials announced this winter.

Tuition rates rose this year for Auburn students, by about 3%, and students at the University of South Alabama, by about 4%. Other colleges typically post tuition prices at some point in the summer.

Read more: Alabama college students spend among the most in the country for education

Chancellor Finis St. John IV lauded the UA System for maintaining a “remarkable record of fiscal responsibility,” which he said allowed officials to keep in-state tuition the same despite rising inflation.

“As Alabama’s largest employer, and as a university system that provides higher education to more Alabamians than any other, we have a duty to be faithful stewards of every dollar we receive from taxpayers, students and their parents, and donors who care about our universities and our healthcare system,” he said at a Board of Trustees meeting Friday.

“We all hear and read all the time about dramatically increasing and rising cost of college. We all hear people questioning the return on that investment even in the face of overwhelming evidence as to its value,” he added, noting that UA System campuses had taken unprecedented action to keep tuition prices from rising.

According to a 2022 State Higher Education Finance report, Alabama college net tuition revenue was twice the national average in 2021, at $13,685 per full-time student. (Net tuition revenue is the total amount of tuition and fees, minus state and institutional financial aid). Experts said that only students in Michigan, Vermont and Delaware paid more for degrees.

An AL.com analysis found that rising costs have particularly impacted out-of-state students, a growing population among several state schools. In 2022, the average out-of-state student at a public four-year university in Alabama paid about $20,000 a year on college tuition alone.

UA System schools froze out-of-state tuition from 2019-2022, but those rates remained among the highest in the state, ranging from $20,400 at UAB to $30,250 at The University of Alabama, according to the latest federal data.

At this week’s meeting, UA System leaders approved a 3% increase for out-of-state tuition rates in 2023-2024. Here’s what undergraduate out-of-state students can expect to spend per semester next year.

• The University of Alabama: $16,200, up from $15,730
• University of Alabama at Birmingham: $13,68, up from $13,260
• University of Alabama at Huntsville: $11,851, up from $11,506.

Find your school’s tuition, cost of attendance and change over time in the charts below. See the graphs online here.