Colorado’s top budget-writing lawmakers on Tuesday agreed to give Colorado State University and other state colleges permission to raise tuition rates for out-of-state students.
The proposal aims to appease CSU officials who waged a last-minute battle with state lawmakers to boost the amount of tuition money the university could collect from most students.
The current budget for the upcoming year allows tuition revenue at CSU and at the University of Colorado to grow by 7 percent. But the universities typically impose steeper tuition hikes on certain groups of students, who end up paying more than a 7 percent increase.
Under the new plan, CSU and all other state colleges and universities would be allowed to exceed the tuition caps imposed by the state budget as long as the excess came from out-of-state students.
Lawmakers also warned that they would not “backfill lost revenue” if rates go above market conditions and out-of-state enrollment drops.
“Can we just put in there: ‘If they’re from out of state, go ahead and soak’ em, but don’t come crying to us if it doesn’t work,”‘ said Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder.
The deal was approved by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter’s top budget official and his director of higher education, David Skaggs.
“This is in keeping with what other schools in the state system have done, and it is a good middle ground,” said Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer.
CSU spokesman Brad Bohlander said university officials would not decide until June how much to raise tuition.
The tuition-cap effort came amid a flurry of final amendments that the Joint Budget Committee is working on to meet its deadline of submitting a budget by Friday.
The committee also agreed to an amendment that would allow driver’s-license fees to increase by $5.40 to $21 to cover the costs of opening three new offices and adding staff to other offices around the state. The initial proposal called for fee increases of $4.40.
Also, lawmakers expect to divert about $30 million into building-construction projects around the state. An initial proposal to swipe about $45.9 million was struck down by the House last week when it debated the budget.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown contributed to this report.
