ETSU trustees approve 5.9% in‑state tuition increase, adopt budgets and elect new executive committee

The East Tennessee State University Board of Trustees at its regular quarterly meeting approved a 5.9% increase in in‑state undergraduate tuition and a 4.58% increase in mandatory fees and adopted several budget items and personnel actions put forward by its committees.

The tuition and fee proposal presented by Christie Graham, the university staff presenter on tuition and fees, called for a 5.9% increase in in‑state undergraduate tuition, additional increases for out‑of‑state and international students, and a 3.88% increase for graduate tuition. Graham said the university expects the proposal, on a flat enrollment assumption, to raise about $5,600,000 and that those funds would help cover ETSU’s portion of the salary pool and other cost increases. “We are proposing a 5.9% increase for in state tuition,” Graham told the board during her presentation.

Board members voted to approve the proposal after discussion. The motion passed with the board voice vote recorded as “Aye” and the chair noting, “Motion carries.”

Why it matters: university leaders said the additional revenue will support a campus salary pool and rising operating costs. President Brian Nolan told trustees that the administration has already redistributed salary resources this year and increased the total salary pool since the board’s earlier action: “We came close to doubling it,” Nolan said, noting the university previously distributed $2,100,000 to faculty and planned to distribute $2,400,000 in market adjustments to staff, with 599 staff members to receive letters about enhancements that are retroactive to Nov. 1.

The board also adopted items from the finance committee and included them on the consent agenda. The finance committee reported capital outlay submittals totaling $70,400,170, capital demolition projects totaling $250,000, capital maintenance requests of $23,490,000 and disclosed budgets totaling $95,000,000 submitted to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. The committee approved a reduction in a Quillen College of Medicine microscope fee from $125 per semester to $25 per semester.

Those committee actions were placed on the full board’s consent agenda and adopted by the trustees without further roll call after a motion to adopt the consent agenda passed by voice vote.

The board also completed its scheduled governance votes. Chair Latimer nominated a slate for the executive committee — Trustee Melissa Stegall Jones as chair, Trustee Steve DeCarlo as vice chair and Trustee Janet Ayers as the at‑large executive committee member — and the board approved the slate by voice vote. The board approved multiple resolutions of appreciation for outgoing trustees and confirmed the selection of Asha Vora as the student trustee and member of the board’s finance and administration committee. Each of those items was acted on with voice votes and recorded as passing.

Additional context: Trustees discussed enrollment and budget planning as linked decisions; university leadership reported projected fall enrollment near 14,400 and described a conservative budget built on flat enrollment, with additional revenue redirected to salaries if enrollment increases. Trustees were also presented with the university’s composite financial index data and a quarterly report of contracts over $250,000.

The board adjourned after completing the scheduled business.