Students will pay about $280 more for tuition a semester beginning this fall, President Gary Ransdell said at the faculty and staff forum on April 17.

Last semester, officials planned to stabilize the tuition increase at 6 percent beginning in the next academic year until the 2011-12 academic year, the Herald previously reported.

A 9 percent tuition increase in 2008-09 is part of the reaction to the 6 percent budget cut to higher education passed by the General Assembly earlier this month.

Ransdell will recommend the raise in tuition to the Board of Regents on Thursday.

The board has to approve all tuition increases.

Western was expecting about $7 million in additional state money when Gov. Steve Beshear mandated the first 3 percent cut. The additional 3 percent passed by the General Assembly brings the total cut to about $5 million.

“That’s about an $11 or $12 million swing from what we were expecting,” Ransdell said.

He said the tuition increase won’t be used to offset the budget cuts in order to keep programs funded or fill new positions.

Instead, the revenue from the tuition increase will be used to replace some of the funds Western had expected from state money for growth and improvements.

About 60 percent of all costs at Western are for personnel, Chief Financial Officer Ann Mead stated in an e-mail.

Because of accreditation quality standards, there are limited options for handling budget reductions and cost increases than people expect, she stated.

Danville sophomore Kevin Smiley said he thinks Ransdell only gave some of the story at the forum.

“The fact that the cuts aren’t being considered as what the tuition’s used for seems strange,” he said.

During the forum, he asked Ransdell if there was a way that Western could involve the students in the decision making process when cuts were being made.

“He seemed hesitant at the time,” Smiley said. “What I was looking for was another way for us to be part of the process because we’re the 19,000 people who use everything every day.”

Ransdell also said that officials will consider changing tuition rates so that students would pay for every hour instead of up to 12 hours.

“I know a lot of our students are in debt,” Ransdell said. “We’re going to continue to try to help our students as much as possible.”

He said the university will continue to invest in scholarships.

There was some criticism from the audience during the faculty and staff forum that students will be paying more for less by paying more tuition that funds only a few scholarships.

Student Government Association President-elect Johnathon Boles said he is going to involve the student body in the process of cutting Western’s budget as much as possible.

If there is a 9 percent tuition increase, he said it should be used to offset cuts to academic programs.

“I don’t approve of any tuition increases, but it has been worse in the past,” Boles said.

Ransdell said it’s important to continue to invest in improvements to the campus and the quality of the Western degree.

“That’s the tough part of reducing your budget while trying to retain some sense of momentum,” he said.

Western is working with a performance contracting company to reduce how much is paid on utilities, he said.

During the student forum, he also said that Western tries to work with donors who contribute to specific programs to get them to apply a portion of their gift to academics as a whole.

“As long as it doesn’t compromise the university or damage the university integrity, we’re going to take it and be thankful,” he said.

Ransdell announced a few other changes to the budget at the faculty and staff forum and at the student forum, which immediately followed.

The General Assembly approved a 1 percent raise for faculty and staff, but Western has decided instead to use the same amount of money to give $500 dollar raises.

Ransdell said the $500 raises are meant to protect more of the faculty and staff who are more susceptible to the problems of the current economy.

“It’s a benefit to the employees at the lower end of the pay scale at the expense of the employees at the higher end of the pay scale,” he said.

The board will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Cornelius A. Martin Regents room in Mass Media and Technology Hall.

If the board approves the 2008-09 budget, it will go to the Council on Postsecondary Education for approval.

Michelle Day contributed to this story.