USC has raised undergraduate tuition by 5% for the 2022-23 school year, bringing the total cost to roughly $63,468 for the year. In the past two school years, 2020-21 and 2021-22, tuition has increased by less than half as much, making this the largest cost hike since the pandemic began. The hike appeared on the university’s undergraduate admissions website under the cost and financial aid page. They have yet to publicly announce the increase for next year.
The rise in tuition for next year differed from the increase announced last year, with the 2021-22 cost totaling roughly $60,445, which was up just 2% from the previous term.
Mandatory fees will total $1,258. Housing is estimated at $10,506, dining at $6,930, books and supplies at $1,200 and transportation at $584. Personal and miscellaneous costs totaled $1,702.
“The tuition increase is necessary due to both the magnitude of the financial impact of COVID-19 and persistent inflationary pressures facing our economy. USC has long kept tuition increases below 5%; the last tuition increase of that size was in 2009 coming out of the Great Recession,” the university said in a statement.
Tuition is the largest source of the university’s academic operating budget, which pays for teaching, student services, facilities and administrative support.
The university’s spending has increased in part due to the reinstatement of the faculty 401k plan for the calendar year, which was halted due to the pandemic and the spending cuts USC made as a result. A note to faculty released by President Carol Folt last month said that the extra costs accrued during 2020, 2021 and 2022 combined with lost revenue totaled $1.2 billion.
“We persevered because everyone worked hard and sacrificed – stepping up to ensure the work got done and the services were delivered, forgoing FY 21 salary increases, and not receiving a portion of USC’s contributions to retirement for a year,” read the statement. “We delayed investing in some major capital projects, reduced hiring, and used virtually all unit-level discretionary funds to cover essential services and emergency needs.”
USC expects to begin “long-term plans for increasing faculty and staff compensation” and finalize hybrid and remote work guidelines. The note did not mention the tuition increase.
USC was already dealing with fluctuating financials due to the pandemic and the initial $215 million settlement the university reached with a victim of former USC gynecologist George Tyndall in 2018. A second settlement was reached with other victims of Tyndall’s abuse for an undisclosed amount, and a third for $852 million, bringing the total to at least $1.1 billion as of March 2021.
The university is currently facing another lawsuit filed by former bookstore employee Cymia Alexander, who alleges she faced racial discrimination and harassment while employed by USC.
The university’s 2021 Financial Statements, covering the current school year, showed that tuition for the year made up about 30% of the university’s total revenue, similar to the previous 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years.
Initially, USC was affected by the national drop in college enrollment resulting from the pandemic, with the yield of first-year students dropping from about 42% of total admits in fall 2019 to 36% in fall 2020. California’s universities suffered lower enrollment overall during the pandemic, dropping 11.4% since fall 2019 according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
However, the university’s yield of first-year students has bounced back to near its pre-pandemic percentages, with 41% of admitted students enrolling this past fall.