Following the Board of Trustees’ last meeting of 2025, students will see increases in their email plans and room and board fees.
By Caroline Smith
Staff Writer
News
Winthrop University’s Board of Trustees approved an increase in student fees for the upcoming academic years during a meeting on December 18, 2025. Fees for room and board increases are set to increase in the next academic year, starting in August 2026.
The South Carolina Legislature applied tuition mitigation funding so that the increases in tuition will not affect Winthrop students for the 2026-27 academic year. The Board of Trustees is working on aligning the M.B.A. degree with online graduate programs, which in part will allow the cost to be reduced.
According to a Winthrop University press release recounting the meeting, “Members also voted to convert dual enrollment pricing to a credit hour basis to simplify and standardize the contracting for districts that fund such enrollments.”
Due to the cost of operating student housing facilities, rates are set to increase all of on-campus housing by three percent in order to catch up to the off-campus housing market. This includes Walk2Campus apartment leases.
“The cost of operating student housing continues to increase due to higher salaries, wages, and benefits costs for the staff,” said Kevin Butler, Vice President for Finance and Business Affairs.
In addition to housing rates, there will also be an increase to the cost of meal plans. The University’s new food services provider, Chartwells Higher Education, is required to keep prices in accordance with the Consumer Price Index for Food Away from Home.
Usually housing and meal plan costs are evaluated each year, but the University’s new food services provider necessitated a 3.7 percent increase in meal plan costs. Cafe Cash will remain as it is to maintain the value of the provided meal plans.
According to Vice President of Student Affairs Sheila Burkhalter, “The structure of Winthrop’s meal plan packages typically stays the same from year to year. What usually changes is the price.”
Included in this adjustment is a number of new locations Eagle Meals will be eligible for, including Paper Lantern. This is projected to expand student options within next year.
On another note, Provost Sebastian van Delden proposed a new fee schedule that will affect some of the 2026-2027 semester classes. The “First Day Complete” program will add a $24 fee for each credit hour.
This program will fund all course materials for students beginning in Fall 2026. This would include any lab and art supplies, art models depending on the coursework and specialized software where necessary.
“Faculty across all disciplines will continue to select their course materials as they always have. In most cases, required textbooks and materials will be covered in the $24 per credit hour fee,” said Burkhalter, “For courses that require highly specialized materials that the bookstore cannot reasonably procure, students will have the option to opt out of the fee for those courses. Additionally, any student may opt out of the program at any time if they determine that First Day Complete is not the best option for their course materials needs.”
A new fee of two dollars will be imposed as an increase for transcript requests. The rates for the Macfeat Early Childhood Laboratory School program will also be expanded by 10 percent. With this change, there will also no longer be a diploma fee, “The cost of the ceremonies will become a non-discretionary expense in the University’s budget,” said Butler.
A small increase to the WinthropLIFE program has also been approved, as well as two new degrees, a Bachelor’s degree of Science in Health Sciences and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Art History and Museum Professions, have been approved by the board.
As degrees come, some also leave the university, such as the M.S. Biology program. “It is unlikely that the M.S. in biology will return since it is being discontinued due to low enrollment – i.e. lack of interest from students. The existing biology and chemistry undergraduate program enrollment is at about 400 students who would have been ideal candidates for this program, but the interest has not been there,” said Provost van Delden.
The Board of Trustees voted on architectural firms for the renovations to Dacus Library and Dinkins Hall. Pazdan Smith has been contracted $299,557 for the Dacus renovations and Cooper Carry’s projected budget for Dinkins is not to exceed $280,000. Information regarding the changes have been provided yet, however, faculty and students will be involved in this upcoming project.
