New Hampshire community colleges announce 2023-24 tuition freeze

Portsmouth Herald

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/education/2023/06/29/new-hampshire-community-colleges-announce-2023-24-tuition-freeze/70365169007/

CONCORD — The Community College System of New Hampshire announced it is freezing its tuition rate in 2023-24. It will be the fifth straight year without an increase at Great Bay Community College of Portsmouth and all of the state’s seven community colleges.

In-state tuition will remain at $215 per credit, which equates to $6,450 for the school year for a full-time course load. Ninety-three percent of students at CCSNH are state residents, and the vast majority remain in New Hampshire after graduating, joining the local workforce or continuing their education through one of the many transfer pathways between the seven community colleges and bachelor’s degree-granting institutions, according to CCSNH.

CCSNH stated the state’s two-year budget, recently passed in a bipartisan vote and signed by Gov. Chris Sununu, granted a funding request that made the tuition freeze possible.

The last time CCSNH raised tuition was 2018, with a $5/credit increase. This was the only increase in well over a decade as tuition across CCSNH’s seven colleges has increased only 2.4 % in total since 2011.

“We provide our students with high-quality programs that serve them and serve New Hampshire well,” said CCSNH Chancellor Mark Rubinstein. “Our ability to make those programs affordable for students and families — programs in nursing and other healthcare fields, in advanced manufacturing, automotive technology, HVAC, and welding, as well as transfer programs in areas like business and liberal arts — is only possible because of the investments that the state makes in our work.”