Del Mar College Board of Regents voted to not raise tuition fees for the 2026-‘27 academic year at a meeting held Feb. 3. This move overrode the college’s policy of an automatic $1 increase, in alignment with Gov. Greg Abbott’s statewide directive to freeze tuition in the previous academic year.
The decision came after a proposal for possible action regarding a tuition rate change presented by Vice President and CFO Raul Garcia to the Board of Regents. “We remain focused on keeping college affordable,” said Garcia.
The agenda covered factors impacting a balanced budget, student affordability indicators, and historical student change analysis. Student affordability is what continues to guide decisions at Del Mar but impacts on budget in other areas can bring the topic of rising tuition rates under debate.
“The college is currently navigating through multiple external and internal pressures that may have a different impact on our ability to maintain a balanced budget,” said Garcia. “I think the Freedom to Dream [program] has really scamped up our enrollment and so we now need to start thinking about what the future could look like in terms of infrastructure needs.”
All of these variables are taken into consideration when balancing the budget and shapes how the college thinks about next year’s tuition charges.
Del Mar College adopted a policy years ago to have slow, steady increases because at some point tuition will need to be raised. Until that action needs to be taken, the board agreed to take it year by year.
“This year is not going to hurt us” says Del Mar President and CEO Mark Escamilla and stated the ‘28-‘29 academic year is when Del Mar can start looking into a new business model.
“It’s how we move ahead and what the fiscal model and financial model looks like on a go-forth basis. I think time is on our side to move forward with no increases on student charges.”
