Abbott Freezes Texas Tuition for 2026-27

Governor Greg Abbott directed every two-year and four-year public college in Texas to hold undergraduate tuition and fees unchanged for 2026-27 in a May 27 directive.¹ The order covers all institutions in the state's university systems, including the University of Texas System, Texas A&M System, and Texas State University System, among others.

This is not a new policy so much as a reaffirmation. Texas lawmakers originally froze undergraduate tuition for 2023-24 and 2024-25. Abbott issued an executive directive in November 2024 extending the freeze, and the May 27 statement confirms it continues into the upcoming school year.¹

What Four Years of Frozen Tuition Adds Up To

The national average tuition increase at public four-year universities has been roughly 3 to 5 percent per year in recent years. Over four academic years, that compounds to 12 to 22 percent more in tuition costs for students at comparable institutions in other states.

Texas students have paid none of that. A student who enrolled at UT Austin in fall 2023 is paying the same per-credit-hour rate today as the day they enrolled. That is an unusual situation in American higher education right now.

For context on what other states are doing, see our tracker of college tuition increases for fall 2026. The University of Missouri, for instance, raised tuition 4 percent this year — while Texas held flat.

4th year — Consecutive year of frozen undergraduate tuition at Texas public universities^{Texas Tribune, May 27, 2026}

What the Freeze Does Not Cover

The Abbott directive covers tuition and "mandatory fees" — but the UT System recently approved increases to non-academic mandatory fees at several campuses. These fee categories include athletics, student services, medical services, and advising.¹

Whether those fee increases are permitted under Abbott's directive is unresolved. Spokespeople for the UT System and Texas A&M System did not respond to questions about whether the fee changes apply to undergraduates or fall outside the freeze scope.¹

This is the key detail most reporting on the freeze glosses over. Students planning their fall 2026 budget at a UT System campus should confirm the total cost of attendance — not just tuition — with their financial aid office. The total bill includes fees that may have moved even while tuition stayed flat.

Before locking in your fall 2026 budget at a Texas public university, get the current total cost of attendance from your school's financial aid office. Non-academic mandatory fees — for athletics, advising, health services — may have increased even where tuition held flat.

How Texas Funded the Freeze

State legislatures typically freeze tuition as a political gesture that institutions then have to absorb through cuts. Texas took a different approach: the state legislature approved more than $680 million in 2023 to overhaul community college funding and directed $328 million in increased financial aid funding in the 2025-27 budget cycle.¹

That investment partly explains why the freeze has lasted this long without triggering the program eliminations and enrollment caps seen at cash-strapped institutions in other states. Our guide to financial aid for college in Texas covers state-specific grant programs that layer on top of FAFSA-based federal aid.

What Texas Students Should Do Before Fall

Verify your total cost of attendance. Use your school's official cost-of-attendance figure, not last year's. Fee changes can add $500 to $1,500 per year even when tuition is frozen. Our hidden costs of college guide covers the categories most families underestimate.

Check what Texas public colleges actually cost. Tuition varies significantly across the state. Our state-by-state page covers Texas college costs with per-campus breakdowns, and cheapest colleges in Texas highlights schools where total cost of attendance is lowest.

Apply for state grant aid. Texas has its own need-based grant programs that are funded separately from federal FAFSA awards. If you have not filed the FAFSA for 2026-27, the federal deadline is June 30, 2026 — about five weeks from now. State-specific deadlines may be earlier; confirm yours with your school's financial aid office.

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Footnotes

1. Texas Tribune. (2026, May 27). Abbott directs Texas colleges to keep undergraduate costs frozen next year. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/27/abbott-texas-college-tuition-freeze-2026/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Office of the Texas Governor. (2026, May 27). Governor Abbott halts college tuition increases in Texas. Office of the Texas Governor. https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-halts-college-tuition-increases-in-texas ↩