Western Kentucky University students will have to shell out more tuition dollars if the university’s Board of Regents approves a proposed 4 percent increase Friday.

A proposed tuition and fees schedule said the rate for resident undergraduate students would increase from $5,101 to $5,301 per semester. The rate for nonresident undergraduate students would rise from $12,756 to $13,248.

Regent Frederick Higdon proposed “seriously considering” the 4 percent increase in a board meeting last month. The state capped tuition hikes at 6 percent over the next two years with 4 percent as the maximum in any one year.

“Four (percent) is not out of line with what I believe is a competitive environment,” Higdon said at the time.

Higdon has said not doing so could hurt WKU financially.

Students in online courses will also face an additional cost, with the online course fee charged to full-time students increasing from $100 to $150 per credit hour.

Along with the tuition increase, regents will need to decide on an operating budget totaling $388,491,000 effective July 1. That budget reflects a 6.25 percent cut in state spending totaling $4,619,000 and including a $75,100 cut to WKU’s Gatton Academy, according to a budget narrative.

Tuition and fees count for as much as 51 percent of the budget’s revenue, with state money making up 19 percent. The budget also includes a budget balancing plan totaling roughly $27 million in cuts.

An enrollment drop and increases in fixed costs have prompted WKU to take steps to place itself on firmer financial footing going forward.

WKU expects to be down 525 students again next year, with no increase in its entering freshman class. The biggest drivers of the shortfall are undergraduate and graduate international students, part-time resident graduate and full-time resident undergraduate students.

Declining enrollment in the fall and spring prompted WKU to cut roughly $13 million and 120 positions.

After the state legislature finalized its two-year budget in the spring, WKU began the second round of cuts that amounted to $14.4 million and the loss of 30 more positions.

After asking its remaining employees to take on more work, WKU is planning for a 4 percent salary increase pool for faculty and staff paid for with the proposed tuition hike. The raises will go into effect Jan. 1.

“That is crucial,” WKU President Timothy Caboni said of the pay raises in an interview last month. “As we continue the work to reimagine and rethink where we’re headed as a university, that we continue to retain and reward the staff that are here.”

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.