“Clearly, there is an awakening that the role of higher education – especially research universities and their students – and the future of the state of Michigan, is undeniable,” Denbow said. “So, we cannot, we must not, look at higher education as some cost to be cut in the now but as an investment in the future.”

MSU Trustee Donald Nugent said the 9.6 percent is contingent upon state funding, and if the university receives more than expected, students would be refunded the money.

If it doesn’t, students could be expected to pay more.

“We had to put it in as a precaution because our feeling was if our state does not have the money now, how are they going to have it a month from now?” Nugent said. “The state is not supporting us the way that other states are, and we are a university that wants to maintain quality education for our students.”

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has a proposal to invest a 2.5 percent increase in higher education funding for the 2008 fiscal year, said Greg Bird, spokesman for the Office of the State Budget.

“The governor’s proposal has shown that we can make the necessary investments in higher education,” he said.

Breaking the bank?

Across the Big Ten, students are going to be faced with tuition increases this fall – except those at The Ohio State University.

The school, along with other public universities in Ohio, will have a tuition freeze at $8,676 a year for the next two years, said Jim Lynch, director of media relations at Ohio State.

“Higher education was the key issue this year at the Ohio State House, and the governor and the Ohio Legislature came together and put money in place that would then freeze tuition for Ohio public colleges for two years,” Lynch said. “We address it one year at a time, but they put money in place that would institute a zero increase for two years.”

However, for the rest of the Big Ten, there are tuition increases and less state support for higher education – the median increase is held by Indiana University at 5 percent, while the average across the conference is 5.15 percent.

On Tuesday, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents voted 14-3 (with one absent member) to increase tuition 5.5 percent – with a dollar increase of $330 annually, said Dave Giroux, University of Wisconsin Systems spokesman.

“We often point to Michigan as (an example of) what happens when state support fails to keep up with educational need,” Giroux said. “Students end up shouldering a bigger and bigger burden of those education costs, and that’s where you all are at today.”

The budget for the University of Wisconsin was approved without knowing what state appropriations they will receive, Giroux said, adding that the Wisconsin economy is “fairly strong.”

The lowest percent increase was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with a 3.7 percent increase bringing tuition to $8,440 for an academic year, with approximately a $302 increase annually.

There is a four-year guarantee on tuition at the University of Illinois, so this increase is for the incoming freshman class and it will remain at that rate for the next four years, said Mike Lillich, assistant director for the University of Illinois Office of University Relations.

Some of the reasons for the increase at the University of Illinois are keeping faculty salaries competitive and putting better technology in the classroom, Lillich said.

The Illinois state budget is a month overdue in informing the school as to what kind of appropriations they will receive.

For Indiana University, tuition is increasing 5 percent – but they were given more money from the state than in years past, Indiana University spokesman Larry MacIntyre said. At the Bloomington campus, the increase will be approximately $376 annually, bringing tuition to $7,837 for the academic year. This number is set for the next two years.

“The last budget was actually more generous than what previous budgets have been,” MacIntyre said. “That’s mainly because the (Indiana) state economy has improved somewhat over the last couple of years.”

Another year, another hike

Of the three research universities in the state – University of Michigan, Wayne State University and MSU – MSU lands right in the middle as far as percent increase of tuition goes. U-M has a 7.4 percent increase while Wayne State has instituted an increase at 12.8 percent.

The increase at U-M is largely driven by state appropriations – and cuts the state is making, U-M spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said in an e-mail, adding that the university plans to contrast that with more financial aid.

“For a typical middle- or low-income resident undergraduate, the increased cost of attending U-M will be offset by additional grant aid,” Cunningham said. “U-M therefore expects no increase in loan burden due to the tuition increase for these students.”

Denbow said MSU has similar plans and has increased financial aid awards 5 percent more than tuition is increased each year.

This year, aid has been increased more than 14 percent, he said.

“Access and affordability combined with quality are what we are all about,” Denbow said.

For Wayne State, the 12.8 percent increase has raised the price per credit hour to $226.05, increasing costs by $25.65 per hour, said Tom Reynolds, information officer for Wayne State.

Wayne State Assistant Vice President Rob Kohrman said state appropriations were a major driving force for the tuition increase.

“They haven’t put together their budget yet, and the outlook for state appropriations looked bleak,” Kohrman said. “We need to send a message back to the state Legislature and the governor that we are really reliant on state appropriations to hold tuition rates down for families and students.”

Bird said the budget is still under consideration.

“The higher education budgets are just one of many that are still under consideration in the legislation,” he said.

Despite what is going on within the Big Ten and at the top research universities in the state, Denbow said university officials do not compare MSU to other universities.

“Our decision was based on MSU’s need and most of all being responsive to our students,” Denbow said. “We live in a state that, over the past three years, has disinvested in higher education more than any of those other states.”

_Sarah Harbison can be reached at harbiso9@msu.edu