Swiss universities raise tuition following federal funding cuts

Several Swiss universities will increase tuition fees from next year as they seek to offset growing budget deficits linked to planned federal subsidy cuts, Swiss Info website reported on Monday.

From 2027, federal funding for higher education is set to be reduced by CHF120 million ($152 million) annually for cantonal universities and by CHF78 million for the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, including ETH Zurich and EPFL in Lausanne.

ETH Zurich and EPFL had already tripled tuition fees for foreign students in 2025 to CHF2,190 per semester. Facing a projected deficit of CHF55 million, the University of Bern has announced cuts to some courses.

The planned increases have raised concerns over equal access to higher education, according to a report.

Swissuniversities, the national association of universities, warned that any significant rise in tuition contradicts the constitutional principle that access to education should be based on merit rather than financial means.

The association said such increases would require adjustments to the scholarship system, cautioning that higher barriers to education risk undermining one of Switzerland's key drivers of prosperity.