Tuition rate set to increase by 5 percent next year for in-state students

The CU Board of Regents has approved tuition rates for the 2012-2013 school year for all four University of Colorado campuses.

CU-Boulder will see a 5 percent tuition increase for the 2012-13 fiscal year in the College of Arts and Sciences, according to a university news release. Full-time undergraduate in-state students will be charged $8,056 this coming year, an increase of $384 from $7,672 for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

Full-time undergraduate students will be charged for 12 credit hours, an increase from this year’s charge of 11.25 credit hours.

Two options for tuition were presented by CU administrators for the 2012-13 fiscal year, both reflecting increases in tuition. Due to continuous cuts to higher education funding in the State of Colorado, CU has consequently experienced disproportionate cuts.

Ken McConnellogue, vice president of university relations and CU spokesperson, said that the Board of Regents voted on two proposals during today’s meeting and ended up approving an even lower percent increase in tuition.

“What [the board] ended up voting on was neither of the two [proposals],” McConnellogue said. “They adjusted them during the meeting. What emerged was not what was originally brought before them, it was lower.”

On the table at the board’s meeting was a 6.7 percent and 8.6 percent increase in tuition for CU-Boulder.

McConnellogue said that the board approved a 5 percent increase for the 2012-13 fiscal year by “reducing the proposed compensation pool [for faculty and staff] from 3 percent to 2 percent and by not making some of the investments that the administration was recommending.”

Some of the administration’s investment recommendations included financial aid, capital construction and controlled maintenance.

All campuses in the CU system will face increased tuition as well, although CU-Boulder faces the highest increase of the four. University of Colorado Colorado Springs’ tuition will rise 4.9 percent; University of Colorado Denver, 0.8 percent; and University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus credit hour cost for nursing undergraduates will increase by 2.4 percent.

In January, a 15.7 percent tuition increase for the 2012-13 fiscal year was on the table at the Board of Regents meeting. The board voted unanimously today to set lower percent increases for all four CU campuses.

Contact CU Independent Breaking News Editor Nora Keating at [email protected].