UM board rejects budget proposal which included 1.9% tuition hike for students

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The University of Michigan's Board of Regents failed to approve a budget for the school on Thursday, which included tuition hikes on all three of the school's campuses.

In a 4-4 vote, board members could not agree on the proposed 2020-21 budget sent to them by the administration. It's the first time in years that a budget wasn't approved by the university's governing body.

Embedded in the budget was a 1.9% tuition increase for students enrolled at U-M's Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses and a 3.9% increase for those enrolled at U-M Flint.

Universities find themselves in a tricky situation. Freezing tuition increases, as most public education institutions in Michigan have done, risks hurting a school's bottom line if they can't pay for the fiscal year's expenses. But if they do, they risk losing enrollment of students already struggling to pay for tuition.