April 22, 2005 in Idaho

Idaho state board approves tuition hikes

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BOISE – The Idaho State Board of Education approved fee and tuition increases of as much as 10 percent for the state’s universities at a meeting Thursday in Idaho Falls.

In the first day of the two-day session, board members raised the cost of tuition for Idaho residents at Boise State University by 10 percent, to $3,672.

The education board boosted tuition at Idaho State University in Pocatello by more than 8 percent to $4,000, 9.5 percent to $3,714 at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, and nearly 3 percent to $1,532 at Idaho Fall’s Eastern Idaho Technical College.

Fees will rise 9.25 percent to $3,968 at Moscow’s University of Idaho.

University officials say they must increase the cost of education to cover instruction and to replace dwindling state support.

Some student leaders have criticized the increases, saying years of hikes have pushed higher education out of the price range of some students.

It’s the first time that BSU and most other Idaho universities are allowed to charge tuition, following changes passed by the Idaho Legislature. Previously, they’d been forced to call student costs “fees” to skirt a state ban on charging tuition.

The lawmakers’ change doesn’t apply to the University of Idaho, which still uses “fees” to describe costs for students.

In other decisions, the board approved a contract for David Chichester, the new interim vice president of financial affairs and administration at the University of Idaho.

In a deal expected to extend until next fall, Chichester, a former Starbucks Corp. executive, will be paid $20,000 a month, with another $5,000 monthly going to the headhunting firm that connected him with the university.

He’ll also be paid for three flights monthly to his Western Washington home, a rental car and housing at the university.

Members of the eight-member education panel also signed off on a design concept for a $9.5 million, 77,000-square-foot indoor practice center at Boise State University.

Construction starts in June.

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