Regents approve increase for coming semester
The CU Board of Regents approved by a 7-2 vote Tuesday a proposal from President Bruce Benson that would increase tuition 9.3 percent for the 2008 to 2009 school year.
The increase means resident undergraduate students at Boulder will be paying about $500 more for their tuition next year. The in-state undergraduate tuition rate was $5,418 for the 2007 to 2008 school year, according to the CU Web site. Resident undergraduate tuition was $4,554 in the 2006 to 2007 school year and $4,446 in the 2006 to 2005 school year.
The increase will be harder to measure for non-resident students. Starting in the summer of 2006, all incoming non-resident students were guaranteed the same tuition rate for four years, so only non-resident students enrolled at CU beginning in next year will be affected by the increase.
While Benson could not be reached for comment, CU systems spokesman Ken McConnellogue said it was ultimately the regents’ job to decide if tuition rates go up or not.
McConnellogue said the governor capped all raises in tuition for next year at 9.5 percent and that Benson suggested and the Regents approved in increase of 9.3 percent.
“We had a good sense that it was going to be in that neighborhood,” McConnellogue said.
McConnellogue said a major reason for the increase is a state-mandated 4.8 percent increase in the salaries of classified staff, which make up about one-third of CU employees. CU will also give pay raises to its other employees to keep up with this increase.
“We’re faced with heavy mandates from the state . . . the state doesn’t put any money into that,” said Regent Tilman “Tillie” Bishop, who voted yes on the increase. “The burden is going to fall on the students to fund an increasing amount of their own education.”
Bishop said Regents Tom Lucero and Kyle Hybl voted against the increase. Lucero could not be reached for comment.
“Higher education in the state of Colorado, it has an enormous economic and social impact,” Bishop said. “We have to look at how we fund higher education from a public policy perspective.”
Regent Cindy Carlisle said the regents will not be getting a pay raise with this increase, and she was comfortable with the tuition raise even though she didn’t like it.
CU student aren’t happy with Benson and the regents’ decision to raise tuition.
“It sucks. That’s why I’ve got scholarships,” sophomore anthropology major Lauren Longnecker, 19, said. “It’s a hardship . . . for those who don’t come from families that can’t just pay for it.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Sam Dieter at samuel.dieter@colorado.edu
