The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees unanimously approved a 3.47 percent tuition rate increase for in-state undergraduates for the next school year.

This means a cost of $358 per credit hour, $12 more than 2010-11, making the total tuition cost of a standard 30-credit-hour year $10,740.

CMU maintains the fourth-highest tuition statewide.

David Burdette, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, said the university will generate $7 million from this increase, and total revenue from tuition for the fiscal year 2011-2012 will be $204,496,263.

Burdette said the budget strikes a balance between the burden of lost state appropriations, which has been the trend for at least a decade, and the burden of heightened costs from students.

“We do not (anticipate) a growth in state funding,” Burdette said.

The number is the lowest announced thus far by Michigan’s public universities, and is beneath the 7.1 percent cutoff which would result in a 23.3 percent reduction in state funding. Instead, the university will lose 15 percent, or about $12 million in state dollars.

The 2,118 students still covered under the CMU Promise, a program which locked students in to a tuition rate for five years, will not experience the change. All students who joined CMU in 2007-2008 when the Promise was active pay $304 per credit hour, or $9,120 for a 30-credit-hour year.

Before voting to approve the tuition increase, Board of Trustees chairwoman Sarah Opperman voiced some concerns with the proposal.

"We want to make sure we have the university we need and do what we have to for students," she said. "At some point, you've done what you can do and costs are what they are."

The tuition increases at other universities have ranged from 3.65 percent at Eastern Michigan University to 7 percent at Oakland University; Michigan State and Wayne State University have been accused of technically raising tuition above the 7.1 tuition restraint clause of the state budget.

According to the Detroit News, MSU could lose $18.3 million in public funding and WSU could lose up to $12.8 million.

CMU has intentionally implemented a 2.1 percent reduction in enrollment, said University President George Ross.

“This reduction was planned,” Ross said. “Our applications are up from last year but we got a little overwhelmed last fall and there were some questions about the quality (of the services we were providing).”

Trustee Brian Fannon supported the proposal, but raised concerns before the vote was taken.

“I have a concern with the tuition increase being so low, it looks good on paper,” Fannon said. “But can we really promise no reduction in services, quality and deferred maintenance?”

Ross said "the short answer is yes."

The tuition increase allows the university to maintain current levels of operation while investing for the future, Burdette said.

“The increase is a modest strategic investment for faculty and students and infastructure,” he said.

The Faculty Association said Tuesday it would accept a pay freeze in its ongoing negotiations with the university if the cost of tuition was similarly maintained.