LINCOLN — The University of Nebraska Board of Regents on Thursday approved a 5% tuition increase for the next academic year, coming as state dollars for NU have slowed under the latest budget from Gov. Jim Pillen and the Legislature.

The regents, by a 6-2 vote, approved NU’s operating budget beginning July 1 through June 30, 2026. Nebraska lawmakers approved a 0.625% increase in state dollars ($4.35 million), which is well short of the 3.5% annual increase regents had requested last August, primarily to cover inflationary pressures. The budget that the regents passed also calls for $20 million in additional cuts across NU’s $1.1 billion “state-aided budget.”

Regents Rob Schafer of Beatrice and Kathy Wilmot of Beaver City opposed the regents’ budget.

Had Pillen’s initially proposed 2% cut to NU this next fiscal year been approved, regents said they could have considered a larger tuition increase or greater cuts. NU President Jeffrey Gold and Pillen, who served as a regent for 10 years before becoming governor, negotiated for what Gold described as a “modest” state increase.”

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