The University of West Alabama will freeze tuition for the 2024-25 school year, marking the seventh year in a row that the college has kept rates flat.

UWA’s Board of Trustees approved the proposal at its June quarterly meeting. Yearly tuition rates will remain at $9,100 for in-state students and at $18,200 for out-of-state students.

“We want to make a high-quality educational experience as affordable as possible and for as many students as possible,” UWA President Ken Tucker said in a news release Wednesday.

“As a public institution, we also have an obligation to operate as efficiently and responsibly as we can, and we believe that we’ve outlined a budget that will meet all of these needs.”

Alabama college students spend among the most in the nation for degrees, according to a 2022 report by the State Higher Education Foundation.

Researchers found that the average net tuition revenue in the state’s public colleges 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).

An AL.com analysis found that tuition in the state has actually declined in some areas – especially when adjusted for inflation. But that’s largely dependent on what kind of school a student attends, and where they’re from.

After freezing tuition during the pandemic, The UA System announced last week that they will raise tuition between 2.5% and 4% at each of its three campuses this fall, depending on students’ residency status.

Troy and Jacksonville State University recently approved slight increases to tuition rates per credit hour. Auburn University voted in August to raise tuition by 3% for the 2024-25 school year.

Other colleges, meanwhile, are opting to keep tuition the same.

UWA joins The University of Montevallo and several of the state’s HBCUs in its yearslong effort to level tuition prices. Montevallo also will freeze tuition for its seventh consecutive year, trustees decided this spring. Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University haven’t increased rates since at least 2018.

UWA had record enrollment of 6,195 in fall 2023, up from 5,851 last year, state data shows. About 85% of fall 2023 students were on some type of financial aid.

UWA officials say the tuition freeze is a “critical step” to provide an affordable education to all of its students, despite rising operating costs.

“We strive to manage a budget that puts as little financial burden as necessary on students and their families,” Tucker said. “We want our students to reap the positive results of our work toward maximizing operational efficiency, expense reduction strategies, and revenue enhancement initiatives.”

In a budget hearing last fall, UWA Vice President of Financial Affairs Clete Beard said health insurance costs have increased by 13% and property insurance by 30%. The college also found itself competing for contractors to complete several construction projects at a reasonable price point, Beard said.

Alabama public colleges asked for and received about a 7% increase in state funds this year to address some of those issues.

Spokeswoman Betsy Compton told AL.com that the college has worked to reduce expenditures by offering early retirement incentives, restructuring positions, and outsourcing labor from places like its bookstore, lawn services and landscaping.

Growth in the school’s online programs and additional state support also have made a huge difference for the college’s budget, she said.

Other colleges typically post tuition rates at some point in the summer.