COLORADO SPRINGS — The University of Colorado administration presented a budget proposal Thursday to its Board of Regents that would include a tuition increase of either 3.6 percent or 4.1 percent on its Boulder campus for the 2014-15 school year.
If passed, tuition for full-time, undergraduate resident students would rise from its current $8,760 to either $9,074 or $9,120, depending on which proposal was adopted. Rates for nonresident undergraduate students would increase by $882 to $31,410.
The Board of Regents will vote this spring to finalize the budget.
Over the last seven years, tuition increases in Boulder have averaged almost 10 percent; the current proposals would mark the lowest increase since a 2.4 percent boost in the 2006-07 school year.
School officials cited an increase in state funding as the major factor in the comparatively small increase. The 2014-15 budget calls for a $100 million increase in operating costs and financial aid for the state’s colleges and universities. The financial influx would mark a second consecutive year of increased funding following years of decreased funding.
During Thursday’s discussion, Regent Jim Geddes, R-Sedalia, said the university could make an even greater statement by not increasing tuition at all. Geddes cited figures that show that CU Boulder has raised tuition by 139 percent over the last 12 years, while the drop in state funding has only totalled 51 percent over that period of time.
“We continue to place the burden on the backs of our taxpayers and students — we have an opportunity to make a statement to them this year,” Geddes said. “With very little pain, we may have a lot of gain.”
CU officials countered that its share of the increase in state funding, about $16.5 million in operating costs, wouldn’t cover the increased costs that the campus faces.
“All the investments that we have to make on campus would go away if that were the case,” said senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer Kelly Fox. “We’ve tried to find the balance between addressing those needs and keeping tuition as low as possible.”
Tuition for resident undergraduates on the university’s Colorado Springs campus would increase by either $270 or $300 under its proposed 2014-15 budget. CU Denver’s proposed budget calls for a 3.5 percent increase, raising tuition from $8,460 to $8,756.
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292, acotton@denverpost.com or twitter.com/anthonycottondp