In an effort to make up for recent budget cuts, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education is authorizing state four-year universities and colleges to increase tuition by as much as 8 percent over the next two years.The council limited the single year hike to no more than 5 percent. Each school will have the ability to decide on how to divide the tuition increases between the two years.Pam Miller, chair of the Council on Post Secondary Education, said despite the increased tuition cap, collectively, schools will still need to make up about $25 million to compensate for state budget cuts.“The increases we talked about are going to allow the campuses as a whole to make up about $66 million,” she said.The increased rates will take effect during the upcoming school year. Should it enact the entire 8-percent increase, the University of Louisville's annual tuition will exceed $10,000. Currently, undergraduate rates for state residents is $9,750.UofL spokesman Mark Hebert said administrators will push for a 5 percent hike in tuition for the upcoming school year, which would allow a 3 percent hike the following year.He said the CPE's decision to allow for an 8 percent raise over two years came as a surprise to university officials, who had been anticipating a 5 percent increase for one year.“We had been led to believe that was the most likely path the CPE would go down,” he said.Hebert said UofL's budget officials are drafting proposals to present to the board of trustees, which is expected to approve the budget “sometime before July 1.”
