MSU’s Board of Trustees passed Friday a tight budget for the 2001-02 fiscal year - and members agree the end result could make some students tighten their own budgets.

The budget included an 8.9 percent tuition increase, a hike working in tandem with a 1.5 percent increase from the state Legislature. The increase is the largest since the university’s tuition guarantee was created by MSU President M. Peter McPherson in 1993-94.

While each of the trustees expressed disappointment in the hike, a 5-3 vote passed the budget. The state appropriation increased the university’s $650 million budget by only $5 million.

Relying more on state appropriations, MSU Extension and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station suffered even more because it does not collect tuition money.

But Trustee Joel Ferguson said opposition to the budget was a moot point: If there were any arguments about the tuition increase or the state appropriation, he said they should have been made when the 6-2 vote recommended the increase July 9.

“The time to have the fist fight and grandstand the speeches was two weeks ago,” he said. “Today was the wrong day to vote ‘no.’”

Still, Trustees Robert Weiss and Dave Porteous, who voted against the increase earlier this month, were joined by Dorothy Gonzales on Friday when voting against approval of the budget.

Porteous said while the university’s technology fund is “very important,” some of those funds could have been redirected to soften the hike.

“As tough as it’s been, the next budget cycle may be even tougher,” Porteous said.

He proposed during decision-making meetings about the tuition hike that money be drawn temporarily from the university’s $10.4 million technology fund, but the idea was not approved.

Gonzales said discussions with students and parents led her to vote against the budget. With campus population shrinking during summer months, she felt people hadn’t been given an adequate chance to voice their opposition.

“The fact that we’re doing this during the summer means there is nobody here to raise concerns,” Gonzales said. “An 8.9 percent increase is really hard to grapple with.

“I just feel like we should stand our ground.”

Still making an effort to keep the increase down, McPherson said the university is vocally supporting the elimination of the Tuition Tax Credit.

With the elimination of the credit program, MSU’s tuition increase would be lowered to 6 percent, allowing each student to receive a $75 refund for the next two semesters.

“The way we opposed the tax credit changed the debate in the Legislature,” McPherson said. “No public university is taking full advantage of that tax credit.”

However, Weiss, who doesn’t support the size of the tuition increase, said he disagrees with the university’s stance to oppose the tax credit.

Instead, he’d like to see the credit’s guidelines altered to allow more students to reap the benefits.

“The repeal of that would mean a double increase,” he said. “Tuition would go up and students wouldn’t get the tax credit. I believe this economic downturn will not be long-term. This is what rainy day funds are for. If this isn’t a rainy day, what is?”

As tuition bills with an extra 8.9 percent added are printed and mailed, freshmen and sophomores are preparing to pay $165.75 per credit hour this fall, up from $152.25 last year. Juniors and seniors will pay $184.75, an increase from $169.75.

“Because the Legislature did not do the difficult, but correct thing for higher education, someone has to,” Trustee Colleen McNamara said.

“The board has to do the difficult but correct thing for the university.”

Jamie Gumbrecht can be reached at gumbrec1@msu.edu.