Tuition to rise eight percent next year

In its meetings Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the Board of Regents decided to increase tuition at all state universities next year.

The total increase for in-state students will be $135 per semester, an eight percent increase over the current $1,684 per semester.

Out-of-state students will see a tuition increase of $666 per semester, also an eight percent increase over the $8,324 per semester currently charged for out-of-state tuition.

The hike continues a trend of increased tuition over the past five years. In that time, state tuition has risen 32.9 percent and out-of-state tuition has increased 56.7 percent.

The HOPE scholarship will increase funding to students to cover the in-state tuition increase.

The Board was pleased to keep the increase in the single digits. "We pressed hard to keep tuition well below the double-digit mark, and our funding partners helped us achieve that goal," said Thomas Meredith, University System of Georgia Chancellor, in a press release.

Board of Regents Vice Chancellor for Fiscal Affairs William Bowes cited a total of $1.8 billion in funding that the University System received this year for the relatively low tuition increase. "Overall, we received an 8.5 percent increase in our operating budget this year," he said, calling it the largest increase to the system's budget in nine years.