OREM -- The state board of regents on Friday announced a tuition increase for the 2009-2010 school year, averaging 7 percent statewide and including an 8.7 percent increase for Utah Valley University.

Chris Taylor, spokesman for UVU, said the school's tuition increase for the next year does not vary greatly from other state universities. The increase is slightly higher than last year's increase of 6.3 percent and will add up to about $276 per student for the year.

"Given our current budget situation, we've tried to implement as modest an increase as possible," he said.

Though the total tuition increase is not drastically larger than last year's, the university's portion of the increase has more than doubled. According to Utah System of Higher Education data, the board of regents increased tuition by 3.5 percent last year, with UVU tacking on the extra 2.8 percent. This year, the regents are only increasing tuition by 1 percent, while UVU is adding a 7.7 percent increase.

Taylor said it is difficult to determine how much to increase tuition. Officials do not want to price students out of an education, he said, but they also do not want to lose quality in the institution. Officials tried to increase tuition by only a small amount, while making cuts elsewhere to help balance the budget. Taylor said the total amount cut from UVU's budget was $11.6 million, while the tuition increases will only bring in $2.7 million in revenue.

"We made a concerted effort to make sure that all of the cuts aren't carried on the backs of our students," he said.

Taylor said it was important under the current economy that students not be given the responsibility to fund all of the budget cuts. As such, officials were able to keep the increases in line with those from years past.

"Under the circumstances, it's not much bigger of an increase than we had last year," he said.

It is still too early to guess what the budget will look like a year from now, Taylor said, but the cuts that have been implemented in the last several months will help the university cope with the faltering economy. Two months ago, it was difficult to tell what the current year even held, but the end of the legislative session made it easier for officials to continue financial planning.

"Now we have a clear picture of exactly what is happening, so that helps," he said.

Spencer Jenkins, spokesman for the Utah System of Higher Education, said the increase is in two tiers. The first tier is a 1 percent systemwide increase, while the remainder is calculated individually by the universities. The University of Utah and Snow College have the highest increases at 9.5 percent, while Salt Lake Community College has the lowest at only 4 percent. Privately owned Brigham Young University also announced a tuition increase in November, of about 5 percent.

"Considering the cuts in state funding, it's pretty remarkable that they've kept the increases under 10 percent," he said.

Jenkins said the first-tier increases handed down by the regents vary from year to year, but they have consistently been much higher than 1 percent. According to higher education data, the first-tier increases have ranged from 3 percent to 5.5 percent since 2001. Jenkins said the board of regents knew each school would need to make big increases for their portions, so the regents made an effort to keep the first tier low. The increase is due to a 9 percent cut in appropriations, and Jenkins said a concern when making tuition increases was to ensure students can still receive higher education.

"That is a concern, to maintain affordability for the schools," he said.

Linda Makin, executive director of planning and budgets at UVU, said the first-tier increase is usually tied to compensation increases for employees. However, this year there was clearly very little increase in compensation, she said, and the increase is instead tied to high-need issues on the campuses. With a 17.5 percent reduction in tax funds for the 2009-2010 year, she said, it is remarkable the state schools have all had increases under double digits.

Had students been saddled with making up the entire 17.5 percent reduction, Makin said there would have been a 40 percent increase in tuition.

"That was obviously not something that any of us were going to do," she said.

Officials also promised lawmakers during the legislative session that tuition increases would not make up more than one-third of the amount that has been cut.

While tuition has increased by $276, Makin said PELL grants will be increasing by more than $600 and tax credits for students will increase because of the stimulus bill. Makin said UVU officials intend to run a student aid campaign to help students understand the funding sources available to them.

"We are very concerned that they be able to do this," she said.

Makin said the cuts UVU has made have put the university in a good financial position. Should the economy continue to decline and more cuts become necessary, Makin said officials will continue to make cuts all over and will not hand the entire burden over to students through massive tuition increases.

"I think we'd continue to look at the entire perspective," she said.