Kentucky's Council on Postsecondary Education will vote Thursday on whether to allow the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville and other state colleges to increase tuition by 6 percent.
The council's staff recommended this week that community colleges be allowed to raise their tuition by 4 percent, while comprehensive universities increase tuition by 5 percent and research universities by 6 percent.
UK, the University of Louisville and Eastern Kentucky University have already indicated that they will seek the maximum tuition increase allowed by the council.
■ If the staff's recommendations are adopted, that would mean a tuition increase of an extra $5 per credit hour at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. That would make each credit hour cost $135.
■ At Eastern, a comprehensive university, the increase would mean an extra $336 in tuition per year, putting tuition for Kentucky residents who are full-time students at $6,960.
■ At Kentucky State University and Morehead State University, students would pay an extra $12 per credit hour, for a total of $242 and $258, respectively, per credit hour. The release did not list what full tuition would be because there are some discounts for students with heavier course loads.
■ At the University of Kentucky, the increase would be $518 for freshmen and sophomores and $533 for juniors and seniors. That would make total resident tuition for upperclassmen $9,392.
■ Murray State University's tuition would increase $312, to $6,576 a year; Northern Kentucky University's tuition would go up $360 annually for a total of $7,488 and Western Kentucky University's increase would be $384, to $7,944.
A council release said that the estimated increase in net tuition and fee revenue would cover about 60 percent of the anticipated $73.3 million in planned budget reductions and expected fixed cost increases for all of Kentucky's public colleges, resulting in a net operating deficit of $29 million.
