By Matthew Keck —

The University of Louisville is looking to increase their tuition by 2.5 percent in the fall 2019. A 2.5 percent increase is the maximum amount allowed during one year under state law.

With this increase, tuition for full-time undergraduate students will add an extra $268 for in-state, and $676 for out-of-state students. Board members did emphasize that this increase is under the national three percent average for universities.

This is an improvement from last year’s 4 percent increase, but U of L is staying on trend with raising tuition. The last time, within the decade, U of L didn’t raise tuition was the 2017-2018 school year.

President Neeli Bendapudi said that the main reason for another increase is to allow raises for faculty and staff. The raises are expected to be two percent and will take effect on Jan. 1, 2020. Bendapudi said that U of L does have plans to increase financial aid as well.

Upon approval of the tuition increase, U of L will become the second most expensive school in the state behind the University of Kentucky. Previously, U of L was the third most expensive in the state behind UK and Eastern Kentucky University.

Not only is the tuition for face-to-face classes seeing an increase, but U of L has proposed an 8.7 percent increase for online courses. The online raise comes with a $50 per credit hour fee and the net increase will be $43 per credit hour.

A U of L official told the trustees that online enrollment has doubled in the past years. The official said that there are over 2,000 students who take all online classes but noted that this does not mean they are full-time students.

Dan Durbin, vice president of finance and CFO, said the steep online increase is to align with face-to-face costs. Student government president Jonathan Fuller suggested that trustees should consider increasing the online tuition in smaller increments instead of large amounts all at once. The online tuition increase is slated to take place every four years.

The U of L Board of Trustees will meet again for a workshop taking place on May 13 before they finalize the budget in June. May 13 is also when Bendapudi will receive her one-year evaluation from the board of trustees.