Board of Regents approve tuition increases for 2006-07

The Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents approved a range of tuition and mandatory fee increases for 2006-07 at a special meeting July 21. The range includes a 6-percent increase in tuition and fees for resident undergraduate students while resident graduate students will see a 4-percent tuition increase. The total dollar increase for non-resident students is equivalent to that of resident students, equating to a percentage increase of 2.2 percent for undergraduates and 2.1 percent for graduate students.

"It's an enlightened approach to minimizing the increase in cost to students," said EMU President John Fallon of the equitable tuition strategy devised to retain current students and recruit new students regionally. "Passing a 6-percent, across-the-board tuition increase is the way that most institutions do it. This is more thoughtful and less mindless than is typically the case."

Fallon said EMU cut $4.6 million from the overall budget to make possible tuition increases that are the lowest EMU has set since 2000-2001, when tuition increased 3 percent. For 2004-05, the University raised tuition and mandatory fees only 2.4 percent, but that was an agreement all state institutions adhered to with Gov. Granholm in order to avoid losing state appropriations.

With the increase, a typical resident undergraduate student will pay $6,933 for 30 student credit hours ($194.50 per credit hour), or about $393 more than last fall. The tuition and mandatory fee total includes: per credit hour fee for 30 credit hours; the $40 registration fee for two semesters and mandatory fees that total $1,020 ($34 X 30 credit hours). The mandatory fees include the $21 per student credit hour general fee, a $10 per student credit hour technology fee and a $3 per student credit hour Student Center fee.

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