By Linda Shepard
C & G Staff Writer

ROCHESTER HILLS — Oakland University students will see tuition costs rise almost 6 percent this fall.

University officials say the tuition increase is due to a struggling economy, the expiration of federal stimulus support and the costs associated with running a campus of nearly 19,000 students.

The tuition increase translates to $18 per credit hour for undergraduate students.

“We believe the tuition rates we’ve set reflect a balanced compromise,” said OU President Gary Russi, “between making the exceptional programs we offer available to a broad cross-section of the community and continuing to ensure that these programs represent the best investment students can make in their future.

“Our highest priority always is to protect and enhance the quality of the instruction we offer,” Russi said.

The university’s student population has grown every year for the past 12 years, Russi said. The school currently offers 134 undergraduate and 117 graduate programs, and will open the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine this fall.

Russi said the university has worked hard to boost financial aid resources by almost 25 percent, which provides aid to more than half the school’s students. 

“What this means is that more and more students are able to enroll at Oakland,” Russi said. “And we fully expect they’ll use the knowledge and skills they acquire to help rebuild and transform the economy of southeastern Michigan and the state as a whole.”

Oakland’s 2010-11 tuition rate for full-time, undergraduate students has been set at $9,716. Graduate students will pay $12,972, which represents an increase of $30 per credit hour, or 5.77 percent.

“Days and nights and hours and hours have gone into trying to keep tuition low for our students and their families,” said OU Board of Trustees Chair Henry Baskin. “It’s with great pain that we have come to this time.”

University officials said that any state revenue cuts greater than those currently projected could mean further budget adjustments and/or a tuition increase later in the year.

For more information, visit www.oakland.edu/affordable.