The Board of Trustees met Thursday and is meeting again today to decide on the tuition and fee recommendations of the University’s Tuition Advisory Commitee and the Fee Review Committee.The Board of Trustees Campus Affairs Committee voted in favor of the two committees’ recommendations: a $140 increase in tuition for all students except out-of-state undergraduates who would face a $280 tuition increase, and a fee increase of $72.20 (out of a $73.78 maximum) for all students.Two years ago, the UNC Board of Governors put a cap of a 6.5 percent increase per year on all tuition and fees for UNC system schools for a four-year period.”Amidst economic turmoil and declining family incomes, N.C. State can meet in the middle and find a tuition rate that beats inflation and preserves the quality of our education,” Student Body President Jay Dawkins said.Dawkins, a junior in engineering, said the committees’ recommendations to raise tuition and fees were reasonable and lower than the request of UNC Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees.The Trustees also discussed the 4 percent budget cut the University faced, as well as approved the name of the University’s biotechnology center — the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.Check technicinaonline.com Friday for more updates.By the Numbers BreakdownThe tuition committee recommended a $140 increase for all students except out-of-state undergraduates, so that’s a $70 per semester increase, totaling a 3.6 percent nominal increase in tuition for the year. In-state undergraduates currently pay $1,930 per semester. So, tuition will become $2,000 per semester. But, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation from Oct. 2007 to Oct. 2008 went up 3.7 percent*. Therefore, this tuition increase, compared to the rate of inflation, represents a  – 0.1 percent real increase.For out-of-state undergraduates, tuition is increasing $280, $140 per semester, totaling a 1.7 percent nominal increase. Out-of-state undergraduates currently pay 8,079 per semester. So, tuition will become $8,219 per semester. But again, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation from Oct. 2007 to Oct. 2008 went up 3.7 percent*. Therefore, this tuition increase, compared to the rate of inflation, represents a – 2 percent real increase.

*According to historical trends in the United States, inflation increases from year to year, so inflation is expected to increase by 2009 when the new tuition and fee increases will take effect.