Tuition costs will swell by 5 percent for students at all University of Alaska campuses this fall.
In an 8-2 vote, the UA Board of Regents on Friday approved the tuition hike after previously striking down a 4 percent increase in September for the 2015-16 academic year.
UA President Pat Gamble, who backed the increase, said the state's fiscal climate has worsened since fall, forcing the regents to reconsider the tuition increase.
As of Friday, UA projected a roughly $50 million shortfall next academic year, according to Gamble, though he cautioned that number could change by the end of the state legislative session.
While the 5 percent increase would close the anticipated budget gap by only $5 million, he said, "we're down to a point where every million counts."
The tuition increase will affect in-state and out-of-state undergraduate and graduate students. For in-state undergraduates, per-credit tuition will increase from $8 to $11 for a maximum of $221 per credit for upper-level courses. All others will pay $20 to $22 more per credit.
Stacey Lucason, president of the University of Alaska Anchorage Union of Students, said Friday she supported the tuition increase. With rising utility prices and costs of living outpacing additional state funding, she said, an increase in tuition "needs to happen."
Lucason, 26, said she would rather see UA reasonably raise tuition than simply add fees, since scholarships and other grants may not cover the latter.
Over the past seven years, UA has steadily increased tuition, according to a document provided by Michelle Rizk, the University of Alaska's strategy, planning and budget officer.
In the current academic year, tuition increased $6 per credit for in-state undergraduates and $12 per credit for graduate and out-of-state students. Last academic year, tuition was raised 2 percent to 4 percent. The year prior, tuition went up by 7 percent per credit for 100 to 400 level classes and 3 percent for graduate students.
In fall 2011, a UAA in-state undergraduate student paid $154 per credit for a lower-level course. This fall that cost will be $183.
Regents Kenneth Fisher and Andy Teuber voted against the tuition hike for next academic year. Fisher said since he began serving on the Board of Regents in 2009, the student count has decreased in the university system while the total budget has increased, he said.
"I don't think Alaska students and their families should bear the burden of our lack of cost containment," he said.
Citing the College Board's "Trends in College Pricing 2014," UA has claimed it has the second lowest tuition and fee costs of all U.S. public four-year universities. Only the University of Wyoming was cheaper for the 2014-15 academic year, according to the report.
Gamble said that the individual universities and his administration are already deep in the process of determining what else they will do to continue to shrink the multimillion-dollar budget gap.