Virginia Increases Tuitions Four Percent For 2012

Tuition at public universities is set to go up again during the next academic year. The increases, while painful for students, are not quite as steep as in the recent past.

Four percent — that's how much tuition and fees will rise on average for Virginia's public universities and colleges this fall, less than the almost eight percent increase last year. Officials say the injection of an extra $258 million from the state budget helped keep a lid on rising tuition and fees. State Council for Higher Education Director Peter Blake told the House Appropriations Committee that varied state funding levels have had a direct impact on the price students pay.

"Not only are tuition and fees half of what they were last year, the increase, half as what it was last year, but they are also the lowest tuition and fee increases in Virginia in 10 years."

Students will pay $70 more a year at Norfolk State compared to an extra $651 at VMI. As state general fund support declined over the last decade, tuition rates rose, pushing more of the cost onto students. However, Blake says the total cost of higher education in Virginia has remained flat.