Photo/Illutration The entrance of Saitama University (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Reeling from surging utility and other costs, four national universities announced that they will increase undergraduate tuition fees starting with students enrolling in the 2026 academic year.

Nagoya Institute of Technology, Saitama University, Yamaguchi University and the University of Electro-Communications will raise tuition by 20 percent from the government-set standard of 535,800 yen ($3,500) to 642,960 yen, the maximum amount allowed.

The increases will bring the number of national universities charging the maximum tuition to 10 out of 85 nationwide.

The four universities cited the need to improve the educational environment amid worsening finances driven by higher utility costs, overall price increases and rising personnel expenses.

They plan to expand support for students from financially strained households alongside the tuition hikes.

Nagoya Institute of Technology, which announced the change on Sept. 26, is the first national university outside the Tokyo metropolitan area to decide on a tuition hike for undergraduate programs.

The increase will apply to undergraduate students starting in the 2026 academic year, which begins in April, and to master’s program students the following year.

The university said facilities have deteriorated due to insufficient funds although it has sought external funding and cut costs to secure resources.

“Amid growing calls for cultivating highly skilled professionals, improving the learning environment for students is essential,” the university said. “We (need to) ensure sufficient educational funding for students well into the future.”

Additional revenue will be directed toward installing cutting-edge training equipment and improving the environment for extracurricular activities.

Saitama University will also hike tuition for both undergraduate and graduate programs.

The university said stable revenue growth is necessary to maintain and enhance the quality of the educational environment, with funds to be allocated to improving campus facilities and expanding student support.

“Additional revenue from the tuition increase will be used entirely for the benefit of students,” said Yukio Tanizawa, president of Yamaguchi University, citing expanding Wi-Fi access and updating air conditioning in the library as some of the items most requested by students.

Shunichi Tano, president of the University of Electro-Communications in the western Tokyo city of Chofu, said it remains uncertain whether the government’s management expense grants, a key revenue source, will be indexed to inflation.

Tano added that even if the grants are adjusted for inflation, the changes would not take effect until the 2028 academic year, at the earliest.

“We judged that our financial situation could not hold out until then,” Tano said.

For many years, all national universities maintained undergraduate tuition at the government-set standard.

However, in the 2019 academic year, Tokyo Institute of Technology, which has since merged into Institute of Science Tokyo, and Tokyo University of the Arts became the first to raise fees to around the government-approved ceiling.

Hitotsubashi University, Chiba University, the University of Tokyo and others followed suit.

All universities cited the need to “enhance the educational environment” through internationalization and digitalization as the reason for the increases.

The government’s management expense grants to national universities, which are used to cover personnel and research costs, have been declining over the years.

In a rare statement released last year, the Japan Association of National Universities declared the financial situation of national universities to be critical, saying, “We have reached our limit.”

The association appealed to the public for “understanding and cooperation” in increasing the government budget for national universities.

(This article was written by Fumio Masutani and Shin Matsuura.)

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