In-state undergraduate students wallets will be short $240 come next fall.

Nonresidents will need to fork over an extra $480 in tuition, if the TuitionAdvisory Committee’s recommendation is passed by Chancellor James Oblinger.

Graduate students, on the other hand, will not notice any difference to theirUniversity bills.

Provost Larry Nielsen, Student Body President Bobby Mills, senior in engineering Robert Bradley and nine other members of the committee met in Winslow Hall, the former home to the Alumni Association, Friday to finalize deliberations.

Scott Lassiter, chair of the Student Senate tuition and fees committee, motioned tokeep tuition rates stagnant across the board.

Nielsen seemed a bit taken aback, saying, “Interesting. This is an unexpected turnof events. I hadn’t thought this question through.”

Lassiter said he felt a duty as an elected representative.

“I feel obligated, being somebody that’s a voice of students,” he said.

In a later interview he elaborated, saying, “It’s a viewpoint that needed to be brought up. Without a tuition increase, the University will continue to run. Students on campus needed me to stand up for their pocketbooks.”

Nielsen voiced concern about the viability of no increases to tuition, but understood Lassiter’s motive.

“I respect the desire to express the students’ opinion,” he said. “A dollar’s adollar. No one wants to pay more than they have to.”

Ruth Gross, head of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures andcommittee member, said the University was not in a situation to cap tuition.

“[The University] is a living being, and it eats a lot,” she said. “And it eats moreevery year.”

Gross referenced the 2003-2004 school year when tuition costs were not raised, andfaculty left for better-paying opportunities at other universities.

“A lot of faculty left,” Gross said. “Faculty needs to be reinforced.”

The motion did not pass, as the three student members on the committee voted for themotion and the faculty and administrators voting against it.

The committee received a scenario in which tuitions rose $240 for in-state and $480for non-resident undergraduates and none for graduate students.

Mills proposed one amendment to the distribution of the funds from the 2008-2009 increase.

According to Mills, shifting $50,000 from Quality and Accessibility to Pack Promisewould help the Office of Scholarship and Financial Aid better serve the needystudents that Pack Promise scholarships support.

Pack Promise funds over 600 scholars, whose families’ incomes are at or below 150percent of the poverty level.

Nielsen showed the same sentiments about funding Pack Promise.

“I had thought that there might be another way to fund Pack Promise … but I’mpretty convinced we need to allocate what we have in previous years,” Nielsen said.

The scenario with amendment passed 11-1 with Mills as the lone dissenting vote.

Nielsen said he was pleased with the committee’s decision.

“This is really the best one — the greatest application to use the funds,” he said.

Before closing the meeting, two graduate programs presented proposals, the Collegeof Design and the College of Management.

The College of Design asked to expand the graduate student tuition supplement toinclude the landscape architecture, industrial design and art and design master’sprograms.

The motioned passed unanimously.

The Jenkins School of Management proposed a tuition increase for all professionalprograms, stating that the increase would still keep the college among the mostinexpensive of its peer institutions.

The vote for the increase passed with two abstentions.

Nielsen said, all-in-all, the Tuition Advisory Committee had been successful.

“The members of the committee, including the student members, were as thoughtful asany year I’ve done this,” he said. “We all acted in obligation to the University.”