Florida State University Raises Out-of-State Fees for the First Time in Over a Decade

This article was originally reported in June 2025. The second round of increases for 2026–27 is covered in the latest update at the end.

On June 20, 2025, Florida State University gave students formal notice that it proposed to raise two fees paid only by non-Florida residents, the Out-of-State Fee and the Out-of-State Financial Aid Fee, starting in fall 2025. Both fees had been unchanged for more than ten years. FSU said the Out-of-State Fee increase would help sustain academic offerings and student services amid rising operating costs, and the financial aid fee increase would help pay for need-based and merit-based aid programs that had grown in the meantime. The proposal went to the FSU Board of Trustees in July 2025 (FSU News, June 20, 2025).

Why Florida’s public universities raised out-of-state charges

In June 2025, the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System, gave each university’s trustees a two-year window to raise the out-of-state fee by up to 10% for 2025–26 and up to 15% for 2026–27, on the condition that universities not increase the number of out-of-state students they enroll. Florida also caps non-Florida enrollment at no more than 10% of the system’s total. The increases apply to the out-of-state fee only, not to base tuition (WUSF/Florida Phoenix, July 2026).

What FSU decided

FSU’s trustees approved the full 10% increase for fall 2025. The out-of-state cost per undergraduate credit hour rose from $481 to about $530. About 7,800 out-of-state students were enrolled at FSU the previous year. Board Chair Peter Collins said “there’s got to be an increase at some point because costs have gone up for 14 years,” and FSU noted that its out-of-state tuition remained tens of thousands of dollars below that of its peers among the top 25 public universities (WTXL, July 2025). FSU was one of five Florida universities that raised the fee by 10% for 2025–26.

Why it matters for international students

• International students pay out-of-state rates: at Florida’s public universities, international students are non-residents and pay the out-of-state fee on top of base tuition, so these increases apply to them in full.
• Still comparatively affordable: FSU says its out-of-state tuition remains far below that of peer top-25 public universities. FSU ranks No. 59 in Forward Pathway’s 2027 U.S. News national university rankings.
• A modest international population: IPEDS data for fall 2025 show 2,418 international students among 43,889 at FSU, including 798 undergraduates and 1,620 graduate students.
• Plan for the full cost of attendance: for the I-20, international students must document funds for tuition, fees and living costs, so use FSU’s published cost-of-attendance estimate, not tuition alone.

Latest update: 2026–27

In June 2026, FSU’s trustees approved the second step, a further 15% increase in the out-of-state fee for 2026–27, the maximum allowed; all 12 state universities raised the fee by 15% for 2026–27. For FSU, the out-of-state fee has risen about 25% over the two years. Because the increase applies to the fee and not to base tuition, the total increase in what non-residents pay is about 11% (WUSF/Florida Phoenix, July 17, 2026).

FSU’s 2026–27 cost estimate for an undergraduate living on campus in Tallahassee and taking 13 credits per semester is:

Source: FSU Office of Student Business Services, cost estimates for fall 2026–spring 2027. For admission statistics and rankings, see the Florida State University school profile.

References

• FSU News: Notice of proposed student fee increases (June 20, 2025)
• WTXL: FSU trustees approve 10% tuition hike for out-of-state students (July 2025)
• WUSF/Florida Phoenix: Non-Florida students will pay higher public university tuition this year (July 17, 2026)
• FSU: Cost estimates, fall 2026–spring 2027
• Forward Pathway: Florida State University profile and rankings