Tuition hikes approved by Board of Regents

Tuition at Utah's universities and colleges will go up an average of 6.6 percent next year, a 4 percent decrease from last year's hikes thanks to an above average investment in higher education by the Legislature.

All nine state schools will see a 4 percent increase to cover compensation packages, and all but one school will also tack on a school-specific increase to cover programs and expansion.

"We hope that people will say the price of higher education is not going up like we thought, so maybe it's a little more affordable," Utah Commissioner of Higher Education Rich Kendell said after the Board of Regents approved the tuition rates Friday.

Dixie State College is imposing the largest increase on its students—about 9 percent with both school-specific and systemwide increases. The College of Eastern Utah came in as the lowest increase with no school increase on top of the systemwide 4 percent.

The Board of Regents also approved fee increases at six schools Friday, but held off on approval for fee increases at Weber State University, Dixie State College and Utah Valley State College.

The proposed fee increases at those three schools exceeded the recommended increase of up to 4 percent.