by James A. Bacon
Virginia’s institutions of higher education increased in-state undergraduate tuition & fees by 2.6% on average in the 2024-25 academic year, according to data published last week by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). That’s a smidgeon less than the 2.8% rise in the Consumer Price Index over the previous fiscal year (July 2023 to June 2025).
When room, board and fees not related to the cost of instruction are added in, however, the total cost of attendance for four-year institutions increased 3.4% on average, or 3.4% for in-state, undergraduate students.
The statewide average masked considerable variability between institutions, and even within institutions as some universities have begun charging different rates for different degree programs. The University of Virginia-Wise campus did not increase undergraduate tuition & fees at all this year, while the UVA main campus in Charlottesville hiked rates by 3.0% on average.
Virginia’s public universities enacted the inflation-matching increases in tuition & fees despite a significant boost to state aid. A long-standing benchmark has been for the state to pay 67% of the in-state undergraduate cost of higher-ed tuition. The state contribution fell to 49% in 2020-21 when the legislature grappled with the COVID-19 recession. But the percentage rose to 54% during the last biennial budget, and to 58% in the current budget, according to the SCHEV report.
University presidents typically have blamed tuition increases on cutbacks to state aid, but they boost tuition & fees even when the state boosts financial support. Bacon’s Rebellion’s analysis of Virginia’s public four-year universities has showed that roughly two-thirds of tuition increases over the past two to three decades can be attributed to higher costs.
Tuition increases were restrained for out-of-state undergraduate students: only 0.2% overall. However, increases varied by institution. UVA, Old Dominion University and James Madison University hiked out-of-state charges by 3.0%, while UVA-Wise and Mary Washington University actually cut theirs.
The average increase for in-state graduate students was 2.6%, ranging from 0% for William & Mary and Longwood University to 4.0% for UVA.
The average increase for out-of-state graduate students was. 2.2%, ranging from 0% at William & Mary to 3.9% at UVA.
Virginia tuition and fees are high compared to those of other states, according to SCHEV: 5th highest among doctoral institutions among the 50 states for in-state undergraduates, second highest for "comprehensive" institutions, and 22nd highest for two-year institutions.
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