Tuition rates at Washington State University will increase by some $1,500 per year for resident undergraduate and graduate students, along with comparable increases for other tuition categories, beginning in the fall of 2012.
At Friday’s meeting in Pullman, the WSU Board of Regents approved a proposal to implement the 16 percent tuition increase built in the 2011-13 state biennial budget adopted by the state legislature. The spending plan assumed tuition increases would be implemented by all state-funded institutions in each year of the biennium.
WSU President Elson Floyd called the tuition increases “unsustainable, and if continued, will compromise access and affordability for students.”
A tuition committee made up of students, faculty and staff recommended accepting the tuition increase outlined by the legislature. Even with the proposed tuition increase, WSU will face a budgeted shortfall of $40 million for the biennium.
No increases are anticipated in Student’s Services and Activities fees.
In other action, the Regents approved several academic changes, including formation of both a new School for Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs and a new School of Design and Construction, as well as extending Civil Engineering degrees to WSU Tri-Cities, and Mechanical Engineering degrees to the University Center of North Puget Sound, Everett. (WSU)
