Motlow increases tuition
Students at the local campus of Motlow State Community College and the Tennessee Technology Center at McMinnville will see their tuition increase by 7.5 percent when they return to school this fall.
Motlow students, as well as all others at state community colleges, will see their tuition increase by $112 a year, from $1,488 to $1,600. Technology Center fees will rise by $84, from $1,100 to $1,184 a year. Additionally, those attending Board of Regents universities, such as Tennessee Tech and MTSU, will have to pay an extra $214, or $3,072 a year, up from $2,858.
Board of Regents director of communications Mary Morgan said the increase is necessary for Tennessee to keep pace with institutions in surrounding states. Morgan indicated Tennessee would have to spend an additional $111 million to contribute as much support per student as surrounding states.
“This suggests we are being very efficient in giving state students a quality education, but we are still a long way back in having adequate funding,” Morgan said. “Ten years of persistent underfunding is beginning to catch up to us.”
The tuition hike will affect almost all 182,000 students in the system’s 45 university, community college and technology center campuses. The University of Tennessee system, which is not governed by the Board of Regents, has also set its tuition increase at 7.5 percent this year.
While higher than some would have liked, the increase is lower than the double-digit increases in recent years: 10 percent in 2000 and 15 percent last year.