State aid increase would give tuition relief

Grand Valley State University students would benefit from a legislative agreement signed last night in Lansing. A House/Senate conference committee agreed to provide Grand Valley, the state's lowest funded public university, with a significant increase in its appropriation for the coming year.

Earlier this month the Board of Trustees approved a tuition rate increase of $296 per semester, based upon the executive budget proposal to cut university funding by 10 percent. The Conference Committee instead would provide Grand Valley with a $5 million increase over the appropriation the university received a year ago.

'The plan sets a basic floor of $3,900 per student no matter what school they attend. That policy benefits students here and throughout the state,' President Mark Murray told students this morning. 'We will be able to reduce our tuition increase for the fall semester from $296 to $49 if the conference report becomes law.'