Wichita State students will see a 2.5-percent tuition increase and a 0.9-percent fees increase for the upcoming school year.

WSU’s tuition and fees proposal was approved Wednesday at the Kansas Board of Regents meeting in Topeka.

Regent Dennis Mullin called across-the-board tuition increases a “reality of the times.”

“As I look at the difficult decisions we’ve had to make on our campuses of not only cutting programs and cutting opportunity but cutting staff to meet the challenges before us, we are not seeing the end of this,” Mullin said. “And we’ve got to do a better job of balancing the income in the state of Kansas so we can be even more proud of driving down these tuition increases.”

Resident tuition and fees at WSU have more than tripled in the last 20 years. Last year, WSU students saw a 2.5-percent tuition increase and a 2.45-percent fees increase.

According to the written proposal submitted to the board by WSU, the tuition increase will generate an additional $2,185,428 in revenue and will “offset mandatory expenditures related to employee fringe benefits, utility costs, promotions in tenure track academic rank and tenure, and student retention and enrollment efforts.”

Students will see a 1.8-percent increase in the Intercollegiate Athletic Fee from last year, and a 1-percent increase in the Student Services Fee. The tiered Health and Wellness Fee, instated last year to bring a YMCA and updated wellness center to Innovation Campus, remained flat.

Other Regents universities had their tuition and fees proposals approved Wednesday.

The 2.8-percent tuition hike at the University of Kansas marks the largest increase in the state, while Kansas State’s 1.1 percent increase is the smallest. The board approved 2.5-percent tuition raises at Emporia State and Fort Hayes State, and a 2.6-percent raise at Pittsburg State.