By Regan McCarthy
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-969235.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Tallahassee Community College tuition costs are set to increase, but Regan McCarthy reports they're not going up as much as they could have.
TCC officials are hiking students' tuition costs by 10-and-a-half-percent, but college president Jim Murdaugh says he had the option asking for as much as a 13.5-percent increase.
"The state actually creates an approved tuition and then it gives colleges flexibility to go a little bit above it or a little bit below it. Historically we have tried to stay below what the approved statutory fee has been."
This year the state approved an 8-percent increase, but because TCC has stayed under that limit in the past, they are allowed now to increase costs above the eight-percent marker.
Murdaugh says TCC's budget includes about one million new dollars earmarked for student financial aid, which he says he hopes will help absorb some of the impact of the increase for students.
Qudsi Baker, a biological science major, says the boost won't make much of a difference to him, but he doesn't relish the idea that it could mean he'd need more student loans.
"You don't want to sit there for 50 years paying off school loans you know? It's scary kind of."
Murdaugh says the tuition increase will make up for the 8-percent cut in higher education funding from the state.