BISMARCK-The state Board of Higher Education approved a budget proposal Thursday that includes a 2.4 percent tuition increase at North Dakota State University.
The budget raises NDSU's yearly in-state tuition to $6,763 from $6,604 for this coming fall. The University of North Dakota's tuition went up an almost identical amount, to $6,548 from $6,388, for an increase of 2.5 percent.
Under House Bill 1003, tuition increases were capped at 2.5 percent, which means NDSU wasn't able to request the 6.5 percent increase the administration proposed earlier this year. That increase would have absorbed fees into the sticker price in an attempt to make the cost more transparent, officials said at the time.
NDSU was one of just three campuses that didn't request the cap of 2.5 percent, according to budget documents. The others were Bismarck State College and Lake Region State College.
Tuition increases fund the student share of a university's cost to continue, which covers health insurance increases, utilities increases and salary increases not paid for by the general fund, such as those for staff, said Laura Glatt, vice chancellor for administrative affairs.
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The student share differs depending on the type of school, but the system aims for students to pay 40 percent at the two research institutions. NDSU's 2.4 percent tuition increase was the rate calculated to meet that 40 percent student share.
Due to the cap, however, tuition won't cover the student share at eight other schools, including UND.
"They'll just have to find another way to address those" costs, Glatt told the board.
Students at both research institutions will also pay more for room and board this fall. NDSU's room and board will be $7,502, up from $7,282, and UND's will be $7,236, up from $6,810.
