Regents target 9.5% tuition increase at Chattanooga State, Cleveland State

NASHVILLE — Tuition rates would go up by 9.5 percent for students taking a full load Chattanooga State and Cleveland State under recommendations approved today by the Tennessee Board of Regents’ Finance Committee.

The recommendations, which would cost students $132 more per semester, would have to be approved by the full Board of Regents at its next meeting before going into effect.

Finance Committee members unanimously approved increases for all four-year universities, two-year community colleges and technology centers today. Increases at the four-year institutions ranged from 8.8 percent to as high as 11 percent at the University of Memphis.

Regents staff and Regents themselves blamed the increases on several factors ranging from the loss of federal stimulus funds to additional state cutbacks of 2 percent and the impact of a 1.6 percent pay increase approved by state lawmakers last month.

Regents also noted that the tuition at the University of Tennessee, the state’s other higher education system, will be rising in the same “ballpark” and that a number of states surrounding Tennessee are also seeing major tuition increases.