Tuition expected to go up at U of M

A tuition increase is likely for University of Minnesota students. That's after state lawmakers effectively turned down the U's request to fund another two-year tuition freeze.

They gave the university only about one-third of the $65 million administrators had requested for tuition relief.

U President Eric Kaler said $22 million in additional state funding isn't enough to keep tuition down.

"It's not going to be possible for us to do. So I'll be making a recommendation to the Board of Regents in June for a modest tuition increase," he said. "With the money we have, we can freeze about half of the Minnesota undergraduate tuition. So we'll ask for about a percent-and-a-half increase."

Kaler also said that the money won't be enough to hold down graduate program tuition, but that the U hopes to freeze medical school tuition for now.

Kaler said the state university system fared better with the Legislature this year, but that he will continue to make the case for the U.