By MASUDUR RAHMAN

Senior Reporter

At a special formal session on June 25, Oakland

University’s board of trustees

unanimously voted to raise the tuition rate for 2008-09 by 6.29 percent for

undergraduate students and 5 percent for graduate students.

One percent of this tuition increase is due to the non-mandatory student fees,

such as fees for nursing, music and education courses, being included into the price

of tuition for all students.

This recent increase was based on the administration estimating a “flat” state

appropriation, estimating that the state appropriations for 2008-09 will not

increase or decrease from the amount received by OU in 2007-08.

However, even if OU does receive more appropriation than expected, it was also decided

that the tuition will not be decreased in response. Instead, the excess money

will be placed in a special reserve until a decision is made on how to spend

it.

Should the university receive more appropriations, the board of trustees approved the administration’s

proposal that this money will only be used to improve classrooms and labs. They

also said that they will welcome student input on which classrooms and labs

will be improved with the money.

This latest increase follows a 13.9 percent increase in student tuitions for

the 2007-08 year.