ST. PAUL -- University of Minnesota undergraduates who attend the Twin Cities campus are facing a 7-percent hike in tuition and fees for the next school year.
The costs will top $10,000 for the first time, with an estimated $10,435 for undergraduates from families that earn $150,000 a year or less; and $10,659 for students from more affluent families. That's according to budget documents prepared for next week's regent meetings.
In addition, a "student capital enhancement" fee will be charged starting next fall that begins at $25 a year for incoming freshmen and rising to $200 a year for all students by 2012-2013, the documents show.
The tuition projects assume the university will take a financial hit in whatever budget-balancing bill emerges at the state Legislature in the coming weeks, but that it won't be as big a hit as what Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed.
But the projected tuition hike represents a significant increase for students and their families, and is likely to heighten concerns about the cost of attending Minnesota's flagship public university.
This year, the university used money from the Legislature to buy down tuition costs for students from low- and middle-income families. Those students got a $221 break this year and are expected to get a $224 break next year.
But the proposed tuition and fee increases would rise faster than the stipend, and students from families earning $150,000 or less would still face a 7.2-percent increase -- about the same as students from affluent households.
The stipend "holds the price down for (lower- and middle-income students) but doesn't drop it down on a percentage basis as much as it did the first year," said Richard Pfutzenreuter, the university's chief financial officer.
The new capital enhancement fee is to help finance building projects on the Twin Cities campus, including an expansion of a student recreational sports facility and a St. Paul student center. When fully phased in, it should generate about $7 million a year to help pay for projects related to student life, Pfutzenreuter said.
In recent years university officials have made a primary goal of raising scholarship money, generating tens of millions of dollars to help offset tuition costs and offering free tuition for many of its lowest-income students.
Still, polling by the university itself has showed that Minnesotans put affordable tuition as a high priority and don't believe the university of the Legislature have done enough to control tuition costs.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
