At the end of February, the University of Minnesota Undergraduate Student Government (USG) announced its Tuition Freeze petition, aiming to pressure the University to halt tuition increases for the 2025-26 academic year.
The campaign was announced in an Instagram post Feb. 21, one day after the University released its budget overview and state funding for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years.
A tuition freeze is a policy restricting educational institutions from increasing tuition fees for students.
The University’s goal is to raise $267 million for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. It proposes to garner 45% of this from the state, leaving 55% to be funded from within the University, according to the UMN Budget Overview and State Funding presentation.
USG State Coordinator William Luther said the remaining 55% will likely come from tuition increases.
The University’s Board of Regents voted to increase tuition by 4.5% for in-state students and 5.5% for out-of-state students in June 2024 and increased tuition by 3.5% in June 2023.
In a Higher Education Senate meeting held at the State Capitol on Jan. 30 where USG representatives presented to state legislators Sen. Zach Duckworth, (R-Lakeville), said the University has historically increased tuition after telling state legislators it would freeze tuition.
“Something that I think everybody up here shares in common with (USG) is the frustration at seeing the increase to tuition,” Duckworth said in the meeting.
Luther said USG wants to put pressure on the University to stop tuition increases.
Tuition is a main factor in how the University makes revenue, Luther said, given that state funding is getting smaller, leading to tuition increasing in recent years.
In 2025, the University depends on state funding for 16% of its revenue and tuition for 23% of its revenue, according to the UMN budget overview and state funding presentation.
Luther said USG had 1,400 signatures for the tuition freeze petition in the first week.
“It’s something that you know the University needs to realize, like you can’t keep looking at students as the main source of your funding, you got to look elsewhere,” Luther said. “You got to look at the legislature, you got to look at other places.”
Luther said students should advocate for a tuition freeze because tuition increases affect all students.
“Not everyone may be food insecure, not everybody may be housing insecure, but everyone pays tuition,” Luther said.
USG Director of Civic Engagement Riley Hetland said the campaign is a way to make student voices heard.
The petition asks students if they support calling for a tuition freeze and if they would be interested in testifying for or helping the campaign, Hetland said.
“It is hurting students especially because this is coming at the same time as the state grant deficit,” Hetland said. “It’s going to have a really bad implication on the amount of people who do come to the University and just access a college education in general, so it’s just so disheartening. It’s awful.”
The Minnesota State Grant program, Minnesota’s largest federal aid program for students, is currently facing a significant budget shortfall. State officials project a $211 million deficit for the two year period from 2026-2027.
Hetland said the state grant deficits paired with the continuous tuition increases are a way of pricing people out of college. She added USG aims to achieve its goal by working to directly engage with students, gauging how many students are concerned about rising tuition costs.
“The University can raise tuition and if no one makes a sound, they’re going to keep doing it,” Hetland said. “So we need to be the loudest voice to make sure that they do listen to us and they do take student needs into account when they are making decisions about our tuition, so making sure that the most amount of students possible are heard is crucial to that.”
