Tuition increases? Decisions coming soon at University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University

Students study on the University of Michigan campus in this file photo. Soon they will know how much they'll be paying in tuition for next year.

At U-M, tuition rates for next fall will be revealed Thursday when regents meet to approve the budget as well as to consider several construction projects and other matters.

EMU regents will approve that school’s operating budget and tuition June 21.

Officials at neither school are hinting what the rates may be, but increases are likely. Universities have to absorb a 15 percent cut in their appropriation from the state for next year.

At U-M that’s a hit of $47.5 million, about 3 percent of last year’s general fund operating budget of $1.55 billion. At EMU, it amounts to $11.4 million, about a 4 percent whack to that school’s $280 million budget.

Michigan public universities have to keep any tuition hike under 7.1 percent or face additional sanctions from the state.

Universities that already have set tuition for next year have kept their rates within that guideline, with Oakland University approving a 7 percent increase. Four others - Saginaw Valley State, Lake Superior State, Western Michigan and Michigan Technological universities - all approvied increases between 6.6 and 6.95 percent.

Last year, U-M approved a 1.5 percent increase in tuition, pushing the one-year bill for a freshman taking 30 credit hours in the School of Literature, Science and the Arts to about $11,800.

Eastern Michigan University kept its tuition, and room and board costs flat last year. EMU undergraduate students this year paid about $8,400 in tuition and fees.

EMU President Susan Martin has previously said the university faces a $23 million to $24 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, based on the cut in the state appropriation and a projected $12 million increase in expenses.

EMU announced several cost-cutting measures. Administrators will not be getting pay raises, and Martin says the university plans to cut at least 70 positions, requiring about 50 layoffs. The university has also reduced staff in previous years, Martin has said. Martin asked unions to forgo already negotiated raises for next year, but they rejected her request.

Earlier this year, University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman told state legislators that the university has cut $130 million from its budget in the past six years and plans to take another $120 million out by 2017.

Meanwhile, both universities have already set increases in housing costs for next year.

EMU announced in April that housing, room and board rates would go up an average of 2.15 percent.

The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved a 3 percent increase in room and board rates for residence halls and a 1 percent increase for University Housing apartment rentals for the 2011-12 school year.

Students are bracing for the decisions on tuition.

University of Michigan junior Jamie Lee, who lives in Ann Arbor with her young son, said she has enough scholarships and grants to cover most of the cost of tuition, but any increase eats away at the amount she has left over to pay housing costs. She said she already has taken out $16,000 in student loans and probably will have to go deeper into debt next year.

Whatever the regents decide about tuition, incoming U-M freshman Maaz Mushtaq said it won’t change his educational plans.

“I’m worried about it,” said the East Lansing resident, who was on campus Tuesday for orientation, “but it’s not going to stop me from graduating.”