Lincoln to raise tuition 4.9 percent

Lincoln University students will be paying 4.9 percent more for each credit hour they take, starting with the fall 2011 classes.

The new rate will be $198.80 per credit hour for in-state undergraduate students.

It's an across-the-board increase at the same percentage, so non-resident undergraduate students will pay $381.70 per credit hour; in-state graduate students will see $250.50 per credit hour; and non-resident graduate students will pay $475.50 for each credit hour.

In a memo detailing the increases, curators were told the new tuition and fees are the first increase since the 2008-09 school year, when curators increased tuition $6 per credit hour to $189.50 for in-state undergraduate students.

Before that, tuition had jumped $7.35 an hour in the 2006-07 school year, and another $29.07 a credit hour for the 2007-08 school year.

But, for the last two years, Gov. Jay Nixon won the university presidents' approval of a plan for no budget cut the first year, and a small cut last year, in exchange for no tuition changes.

"They were marvelous agreements with the governor," LU President Carolyn Mahoney said. "I think it was just very good for this state, and good for this institution, that we were able to strike that arrangement.

"In addition, it provided, early on, some stability in planning - because you knew what you had to work with."