Colleges ask board for tuition increases

BOISE – Idaho’s four public colleges and universities are asking the state Board of Education for sizable tuition increases next year – including more than 8 percent at Boise State University for new faculty positions and a parking garage.

The Education Board is due to set tuition and fees Thursday and Friday at its meeting at the University of Idaho in Moscow. Boise State, Idaho’s largest university with more than 18,000 students, wants to raise tuition, now $3,872 per year for residents and $11,280 for nonresidents, by 8.73 percent. Idaho State University in Pocatello – which charges Idaho residents $4,000 and out-of-state students $11,700 – is asking for a 7 percent increase.

The University of Idaho charges Idaho residents $3,968 and out-of-staters tuition and fees of $12,738, and it is asking for a 9.48 percent increase.

And Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston is seeking a 6 percent increase for tuition that is now $3,714 for Idaho residents and $10,266 for out-of-state students.

The University of Idaho planned to use its almost 10 percent increase to create some new programs on campus, said Bruce Pitman, the university’s vice provost of student affairs. Students who worked with administrators on a budget said one of their top priorities was to establish a diversity center where various groups could meet and use office space. The students also requested a center for sustainability and grants to help more students study abroad, Pitman said. The extra money would also go to staff salary increases, building maintenance and undergraduate research grants.

That money “will in fact go back to the students in terms of salaries,” Pitman said of the latter item.