Regents schools expect increases up to 10%

PDF: State Appropriations

Members of the Tennessee Board of Regents, considering a nearly 10 percent tuition increase, were looking for some temporary relief Thursday from a bleak state economic forecast.

Many of them found relief of a different nature from some Chattanooga State massage therapy students who offered neck and back massages to board members between committee meetings.

But if the board approves tuition increases in June, local students are not expecting a reprieve from climbing fees and tuition expenses.

“It would be a crunch for it to go up,” said Renee Richardson, a 43-year-old massage therapy student at Chattanooga State Technical Community College. “That’s tough.”

Before the projected state budget shortfall, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission proposed a 5 percent to 7 percent increase for most Board of Regent universities, a 7 percent to 9 percent increase for the University of Memphis and no increase for two-year colleges, said Bob Adams, vice chancellor of the board’s Business and Finance Committee.

“At that point (the projected shortfall) wasn’t as dim as it has been in recent months,” Mr. Adams said. “It was our hope not to raise tuition.”

Now, without more state funding, community colleges such as Chattanooga State can expect to see tuition increases of 7 percent to 9 percent, and four-year institutions will see similar increases. However, the board has promised to cap the increases at 10 percent, Regents Chancellor Charles Manning said.

“We have made a deal,” said Dr. Manning. “But what the increase is going to be, I can’t say more than that.”

On top of tuition increases, students at several Board of Regents schools, including Chattanooga State, can expect to see student fee increases.

Fee increases for debt services, athletics, campus access, sustainability, technology, health services, student recreation, transportation and student government will be voted on at the board’s June meeting.

The cost of attending a four-year Board of Regents institution has increased 85 percent in the past 10 years, compared to a 73 percent increase at public institutions nationwide over the same period, Mr. Adams said.

A greater disparity lies between the national increase in two-year college tuition and the community colleges governed by the Board of Regents, he said. At schools such as Chattanooga State tuition has increased 82 percent in the last 10 years, while costs increased only 62 percent nationally, Mr. Adams said.

“We want to be able to continue to give the same level of education, and that costs more money year after year,” Dr. Manning said.