University says increase is lowest of those across the state

Idaho State University is again increasing tuition for students, but the university said it’s going to contribute more for job programs and scholarships to help alleviate the burden to students.

In-state undergraduate students will now be paying $6,566 for the 2014-15 school year, a $222 increase from the 2013-14 tuition.

“Despite financial challenges related to increasing operational costs and decreases in state funding, we continue to look for opportunities to invest in our students,” said James Fletcher, ISU vice president for finance and administration.

The way the university is planning to do that is by increasing funding for the Career Path Internship program, where the university pays a student to intern in a position in their field, either on-campus or in the community.

“We have about 700 students in the CPI program and it would be nice to get up to 1,000,” said Kent Tingey, vice president for advancement. “Then we’ll fund some financial aid, some scholarship aid for the students.”

Among these scholarships are a general expansion of the ISU scholarship program anda retention scholarship, which increases each year a student is enrolled.

Boise State University increased tuition by 5.5 percent, a $348 per year increase. University of Idaho increased tuition by 4 percent, or $260 per year. The Eastern Idaho Technical College requested a 6.1 increase, causing tuition to go from $2,122 to $2,256.