The estimate is 1 percent less than the average tuition increase for each of the past five years.

“This update was done without (state) appropriations being solidified, as well as a number of expenditure items still under review,” Byelich said. “This is a preliminary update and should be seen in that matter.”

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the state Senate have proposed a 3 percent increase in appropriations for universities, but the final state budget isn’t expected to be finalized for several weeks.

“That’s the secret ingredient we don’t know yet,” MSU Trustee Colleen McNamara said. “Once we know what we’ll get from the state, we’ll be able to deal with reality.”

Byelich said the university’s budget will have to account for increasing prices of expenditure items, especially on utilities such as coal.

“That is one very significant priority at this time,” he said.

A recommended 5 percent increase in faculty salaries also has to be approved by the MSU Board of Trustees, which is why university officials won’t make tuition recommendations to the board for several months, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said.

“Like every family in America, we’re facing inflationary costs the highest they’ve ever been in our country,” she said. “You have to make choices.”

Communication junior Tony Willis said the prospect of another increase discouraged him.

“I want to know where the money is going to exactly,” he said.

Showing students where their money is going was the purpose of the April 16 budget update, Simon said. The update is available at www.budget.msu.edu.

“We always try to put material on the Web site in April so students have a sense of the budget parameters before they leave,” Simon said.

McNamara said she empathized with students facing tuition increases, but said she believed an MSU degree would be a good investment.

“I believe a quality education, a degree from a university that you can be proud of 10, 20, 30 years from now, is an important element of who students are going to be,” she said.

“The real challenge for board members is to retain that quality, so you can look back 30 years from now and say that this is a good university, so we don’t slip into mediocrity.”

Before Thursday, theater freshman Mary Wardell didn’t think yearly tuition increases were common.

“I heard about (the tuition increase) last year, but I didn’t know it’s been a regular thing,” Wardell said. “I depend a lot on financial aid already, and if things don’t go well with that, we might have a problem on our hands.”

Staff writer Joseph Terry contributed to this report.