Education commission likely to endorse 15 percent tuition hike

The expected recommendation is the result of flat state funding this year and rising operating costs, said Jim Vaden, associate executive director of fiscal affairs for THEC.

“(Colleges) have got to have funds to operate and pay their bills and improve the quality of education they offer students,” Vaden said Monday. “Those increases are our only source of operating revenue.”

The commission will recommend a maximum 15 percent increase for the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus and the University of Memphis.

It also is expected to recommend up to a 12 percent increase for UT-Chattanooga and other mid-sized state universities and community colleges.

No student fees or room and board increases would be included in the tuition increases.

The 15-member higher education commission will meet in Nashville to vote on the issue. Its recommendation will then go to the state’s two governing boards, the Tennessee Board of Regents and the UT Board of Trustees, who set the tuition.

The Board of Regents meets Thursday and Friday at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin. The UT trustees meet June 22-23 in Knoxville.

The Regents have raised tuition each of the last three years — 7 percent last year, 14 percent in 2003 and 7.5 percent in 2002.

If the boards pass the maximum tuition hike, a full-time, in-state student at Tennessee would spend $613 more a year, or $4,700, in tuition. A student at UT-Chattanooga would pay $395 more a year, or $3,688.

A full-time student at Chattanooga State Technical Community College would pay $234 more a year, or $2,186, in tuition.

Senior Amy Prevost, the student body president at UT-Chattanooga, said double-digit tuition increases are too much.

“I know there’s going to be an increase, but I would love a lower increase,” the Goodlettsville resident told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “I don’t want college to ever be a financial burden for students.”

Lawmakers approved a budget that includes $1.12 billion for higher education for the fiscal year that begins July 1, the same amount as the current fiscal year. Vaden said colleges need a 7 to 10 percent tuition increase just to remain open.

Chattanooga developer and UT trustee John Thornton said tuition increases are needed because state funding simply isn’t enough to maintain the quality of higher education in Tennessee.

“The sad fact is that state appropriations are not what they need to be,” he said.

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On the Net:

Tennessee Higher Education Commission: http://www.state.tn.us/thec

Tennessee Board of Regents: http://www.tbr.state.tn.us