States have varying degrees of control over the tuition price of their public higher education institutions. Alabama has none.
Under Alabama law, higher education institutions set tuition and fees for students. The state government cannot control those increases, and one of the Legislature’s education budget chairs says moving in that direction would require an overhaul of the higher education system.
According to a June report by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, 60% of states have limited or frozen four-year tuition rate increases in the past five years. While some Alabama schools have frozen their tuition, they did so on their own initiative, not from state mandates.
There’s no general rule for the control states have over the pricing of their institutions, said Dustin Weeden, associate vice president at the association. But a state like Georgia, with a single state system, tends to have more control.
“States are really all over the place on this,” Weeden said.