The cost of taking classes at Western Michigan University will go up this fall. University board members approved a 7.4 percent increase in undergraduate tuition Friday. The increase will cost full-time freshmen and sophomores who are Michigan residents an extra $624 a year. But University officials three-quarters of the new revenue will go back to students in financial aid, new faculty, and an increase in the number of academic advisors. Western Board Chairman Larry Tolbert says trustees raised tuition levels reluctantly. But he says there was no choice because of continuing cuts in state support:

 "There is no other way to say this: Michigan must find a way to reinvest in its higher education infrastructure. The stakes for this state are higher today than they were 35 years ago and will continue to rise."

Western is also raising the amount it charges students who take classes online or at campuses in other cities. Western's increase for undergraduates is the biggest approved by the state's 15 public universities this year. Even so, Western will stay in tenth place in overall tuition costs per student.

In the future there's a possibility that students at Western will pay tuition at rates based on the classes they take. Western President John Dunn says he may ask trustees to consider charging students in the Haworth College of Business and the College of Fine Arts tuition rates different from those paid by those enrolled in the university's other academic programs. But he says that proposal, if it is approved, would not take effect until some point after the coming academic year that begins in September.

More information about changes in WMU's tuition schedule is available here.

In other action Friday, Western trustees approved the university's new $343 million general fund budget. They also approved a new "voluntary retirement incentive program" encouraging older professional, clerical and technical workers to retire early. University officials say about 300 employees are eligible for the program that will offer payments between $10,000 and $40,000 based on seniority and salary level. Western Vice-President for Business and Finance Lowell Rinker says if only 100 employees apply it will save the university more than $1 million a year.