This article was originally reported in April 2025. What happened to tuition and fees afterward, including for international students, is covered in the update at the end.
On April 4, 2025, the Board of Trustees of Purdue University endorsed President Mung Chiang’s request for a 14th consecutive freeze of base tuition on the main campus. The trustees also approved a pay raise for faculty and staff. The freeze would keep base undergraduate tuition at $9,992 a year for Indiana residents and $28,794 a year for out-of-state students through the 2026–27 academic year. Formal approval was to follow in late spring 2025, after the Indiana legislature set the state budget (Purdue News, April 2025).
What the trustees decided
- Tuition: base undergraduate tuition stays at $9,992 (Indiana residents) and $28,794 (nonresidents) through 2026–27. Purdue projected that its 2026–27 base tuition would be a third lower than the Big Ten average. Other student fees were still under review, and the full 2025–26 and 2026–27 fee schedule was to be published in May for public review.
- Salaries: for fiscal 2026, main-campus faculty and staff received a 2% recurring merit increase effective July 1, plus a 0.5% one-time payment for exceptional contributions. Purdue has given merit raises every year since 2010 except 2020–21. In November 2020, more than 15,000 employees received a one-time $750 award instead.
- History of the freeze: then-President Mitch Daniels announced the first freeze in spring 2013. Before that, tuition had risen every year since 1976, by an average of nearly 6% a year from 2002 to 2012. By 2026–27, 12 graduating classes will have finished without a tuition increase.
“Purdue is in a strong position financially to make salary investments,” Chiang said. Board chair Gary Lehman said the trustees review each freeze request carefully rather than approving it automatically. At the time, Purdue enrolled more than 107,000 students across all campuses, locations and formats, including more than 58,000 at its main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis.
What “frozen tuition” does and does not cover
The freeze applies to base undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees on the main campus. It does not freeze every charge. Two kinds of charges matter for international students:
- International student fee: in its fiscal 2026 budget (June 2025), Purdue kept base tuition frozen but raised the undergraduate international student fee by $500 per semester starting in 2025–26, to $1,655 per semester.
- Program differential fees: starting in fall 2026, new out-of-state and international undergraduates in engineering, computer science and business pay an additional $1,000 per semester in differential fees (Purdue News, June 2025).
Housing and dining are priced separately as well, so the total cost can still change from year to year.
What undergraduates pay in 2026–27
West Lafayette tuition and mandatory fees per semester for 2026–27, from the Bursar’s Office (Purdue Bursar: 2026–27 undergraduate tuition and fees):
| Program | Indiana resident | Nonresident | International |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most majors | $4,996 | $14,397 | $16,052 |
| Computer science, data science, engineering, biological engineering | $6,021 | $16,422 | $18,077 |
| Business school and economics B.A. | $5,714 | $16,115 | $17,770 |
For a full year, an international student in a standard major pays $32,104 in tuition and fees. In engineering or computer science the total is $36,154. Housing, meals, books, insurance and personal costs come on top. Purdue does not count the international student fee and program differentials as base tuition, which is why international costs have risen while the base tuition rate stays frozen.
Update: still frozen through 2026–27
- On June 5, 2026, the trustees adopted the fiscal 2027 budget. Undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees on the main campus remained frozen for 2026–27, the 14th straight year, with a 2% merit increase for main-campus employees. At the Fort Wayne and Northwest regional campuses, rates for out-of-state and international students rose 3% (Purdue News, June 2026).
- In October 2026, Purdue said tuition had been held flat for 14 consecutive years and that 12 graduating classes had never seen an increase. The university also said that 67% of its students graduate debt-free (36% nationally) and that students finish in an average of 3.84 years. Nearly 60 majors offer a “Degree in 3” option that can save up to $19,000. Purdue had not announced main-campus tuition for 2027–28 by then; the trustees’ October 2026 meeting set 2027–28 housing and dining rates (Purdue News, October 29, 2026).
- Leadership changed after this article was first published. Chiang left on July 1, 2026 to become president of Northwestern University, and Mitch Daniels returned as interim president. On November 5, 2026, the trustees chose Jay B. Silveria as Purdue’s 14th president, effective February 1, 2027 (Purdue News, November 2026).
Purdue is ranked No. 55 among national universities in the 2027 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking (Forward Pathway ranking database; see the Purdue University profile).
References
- Purdue News: Trustees endorse 14th consecutive tuition freeze while approving 2% + 0.5% faculty and staff salary increase (April 2025)
- Purdue News: Trustees approve 2026 budget, frozen base tuition for main campus (June 2025)
- Purdue News: Trustees approve 2027 budget, maintaining frozen base tuition for main campus (June 2026)
- Purdue News: Purdue leads on affordability with frozen tuition, accelerated degree pathways (October 29, 2026)
- Purdue Bursar’s Office: Undergraduate Tuition and Fees 2026–2027
- Purdue News: Purdue University names Jay B. Silveria its next president (November 2026)
- Forward Pathway: Purdue University profile and rankings