The MSU Board of Trustees are expected to set the 2005-06 tuition rates today and finalize the university budget.
The university is behind schedule after a summer of waiting on the state Legislature to determine its final budget. The board will hold a special action meeting at 2:30 p.m. in the Administration Building.
Board chairperson David Porteous said the board will raise tuition today but declined to reveal a specific number.
MSU is still in the dark about how much money it will receive from the state for the 2005-06 school year. University officials have said the best budget formula for MSU would be the plan approved by the Michigan House of Representatives, which would give the university about $287 million for the 2005-06 fiscal year. Tuition at MSU was $206.25 per credit hour for in-state freshman and sophomore students for the 2004-05 academic year.
Porteous said he is uneasy about setting tuition without final approval of a state budget.
"We're going to make our best guesstimate," he said. "You just can't wait any longer than we've been waiting. Students are going to be back to campus in a month."
He said the ultimate decision will be based on the final recommendations from the administrators and comments from board members.
MSU spokesperson Terry Denbow said a tuition increase is necessary to cover the rising energy and health-care costs.
Under a tuition-restraint program in the 1990s, led by former MSU President M. Peter McPherson, MSU held tuition increases below 3 percent for seven years and its tuition increased by only 2.4 percent last year.
On Wednesday, Wayne State University voted on an 18.5 percent tuition hike. Central Michigan University decided last week to raise freshmen tuition by 19 percent, with a guarantee that tuition won't increase for current students for the next five years.
Trustee Dorothy Gonzales said she'll vote against a tuition increase.
"Increasing our tuition always starts a process of elimination of those who can and can't go to college," she said. "It's really closing the doors to a lot of good, talented people at MSU."
Patrick McConeghy, dean of the College of Arts & Letters, said he thinks the board has been concerned with keeping tuition as low as possible.
"For many years, MSU has always kept the students' interests at the top of this list so I know they are very concerned," he said.
The Associated Press and staff writer Maggie Lillis contributed to this report. Amy Davis can be reached at davisam8@msu.edu.
