The Board of Regents approved the FY 2009 - 2010 budget today, with a 3.82% increase in tuition at all levels. This equals a 308$ per year increase for a student taking 30 hours of undergraduate coursework.  Both Josh and I have served on the University Budget Council for a few months now so we have gotten a first hand look at the budgeting process, and while it is by no means perfect, we were very pleased that the 2 of us were able to have such a strong voice on the council.  Even though the council itself does not set the budget (the CFO and Regents do this) we were able to make several recommendations that were incorporated in the new budget.

Most importantly, the tuition increase is currently the lowest of the 15 Michigan universities, despite the cuts coming in higher education funding from the state.  I see this a a great victory not only for students but the school as a whole. I am pleased to say that the regents listened to our recommendation to keep tuition as low as possible with out harming the educational experience, and keeping layoffs at a minimum. I think that keeping the increase under 4% sends a big statement across the state since we are anticipating a 3% decrease in higher education funding and we recently borrowed 100 million dollars to renovate Mark Jefferson.

Other items of note that were included in the budget include:

- 8% increase in financial aid budget

- Pay freeze for the 100 highest paid staff at the university including the president

1. -6 month deferral for merit based raises for all other administration
   

2. -A 75,000$ increase to the student government budget :)