Regents weighing tuition options

The CU Board of Regents heard tuition proposals from all campuses during Wednesday’s meeting at system administration offices at 1800 Grant St., Denver, but asked for alternatives to compare with the proposal for the University of Colorado Boulder.

Following the successful implementation of linear tuition structure at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, CU-Boulder and CU Denver proposed similar change to tuition structure over the next three years.

Linear tuition for undergraduates reflects a pay-per-credit-hour rate, rather than a single-price method. For instance, undergraduates at Boulder currently pay the same tuition rate for any number of credits above 11.25 hours. With a linear tuition structure, an increased load of credit hours carries a corresponding tuition cost.

The regents have asked administrative staff to develop a comparison of three possibilities: the linear model presented for Boulder at Wednesday’s meeting, a guaranteed rate model, and a hybrid of the two. The board will meet to discuss the options either later this month or early next month.

Last summer, the regents had considered pursuing a guaranteed rate of tuition, which would lock a rate for a student’s four years. Because such a change would include a steep increase at the beginning of the four years, some board members had indicated they weren’t interested. But at Wednesday’s meeting, figures showed that a guaranteed rate might be comparable to the linear model, in terms of percentage increase.

Proposed changes to tuition as presented to regents:

UCCS: A base resident undergraduate tuition increase of $16 per hour is proposed to keep pace with inflation and to mitigate reduced state funding.

CU Denver: The campus looks to implement a linear tuition structure over the next three years. In the 2012-13 fiscal year, tuition would increase $11 per hour, and a full-time student taking under 19 credit hours would be charged for 14 credit hours. The following year, a full-time student would be charged for up to 16 credit hours; in fiscal year 2014-15, a full-time student would be charged for all credit hours taken.

CU-Boulder: The campus proposed a $14 per credit hour increase in the coming fiscal year, to reflect the inflation rate. It, too, would implement linear tuition over the next three years, with full-time students being charged for 12.5 hours next year. In fiscal year 2013-14, a full-time student would be charged for 13.75 credit hours; 15 credit hours in 2014-15.

Anschutz Medical Campus: The resident undergraduate nursing rate of tuition would increase by $25 per credit hour in fiscal year 2012-13.