The University of Maryland RHA voted Tuesday in favor of a proposal to increase the student dining fee by 2.2 percent and the housing fee by 2.14 percent for the 2026-27 school year.
The changes would result in a $147 increase in the Dining Services fee a plan a semester and a $216 increase in the housing fee for undergraduate students living in a traditional double room with air conditioning.
The fee proposals will be sent to university president Darryll Pines for final approval.
“The theme that we’ve carried through is being cost-conscious on behalf of all students that live in the residence halls,” Resident Life director Dennis Passarella-George told RHA senators at Tuesday’s meeting.
In June, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents voted to increase tuition and fees across several of its institutions, including the University of Maryland. The university’s dining fee last year also saw a 9.33 percent increase while the housing fee rose by nearly 4 percent, The Diamondback previously reported.
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For dorms, all expenses are paid for through fees, Passarella-George said Tuesday.
This year’s dining fee increase, proposed by Dining Services director Chris Moore, and passed in a formal bill proposed by South Hill senator Cameron King, looks to increase its rates by $147 a plan each semester. That’s about 66 cents a day for the unlimited dining plan due to the cost of labor it takes to prepare and distribute meals.
“The increase is meant to sustain this amount of service that dining halls provide on campus already, and to ensure that we still have the high quality of the dining halls that we already have on campus,” King, a sophomore journalism major, said.
During the RHA’s meeting Tuesday, Moore emphasized that fee increases are necessary to be able to offer quality meals, such as fresh fruit or seafood options like salmon, because inflation has led to higher costs for some common items.
“If you don’t get the money for [handling] increased food cost, that means we have to change the food offerings that we’re doing,” Moore said. “Instead of being able to offer, maybe salmon, we’d have to offer tilapia a little more often. Changes like that have to be made — maybe there’s less berries in the fruits and more canned fruits make an appearance.”
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Passarella-George said the funds generated from the housing fee increase, which was proposed by Denton Hall senator Shri Kalbhor and North Hill senator Ava Rollino, will support maintenance and utilities for dorms. It’s also set to support salary and wage increases, as well as insurance costs, according to the bill’s text supporting the increase.
The proposal is the minimum increase amount required, according to Kalbhor, a freshman finance major.
About $1.946 million is needed in additional revenue for next year to cover costs associated with the Resident Life and Residential Facilities departments, Passarella-George said, as well as $1.18 million for additional salary and wage adjustments for staff.
“We want to keep them around and make sure that they’re secure and can keep their jobs,” said Rollino, a freshman government and politics major. “It’s super important that we keep the university running, because we can’t function without our necessary employees.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that the proposals were for the 2027-28 school year. The proposals are for the 2026-27 school year. This story and its headline have been updated.
