University of Cincinnati joined the ranks of other Tristate schools Tuesday by raising full-time tuition for the 2002-03 academic year in an effort to make up for lost state revenues.

        The Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition 9.5 percent for four-year students and 6 percent at the institution's two-year schools.

        That makes a 23.5 percent tuition increase at UC over a two-year span.

        The board's decision to vote now instead of at budget time in June is an attempt to notify students that there would be no two-tiered tuition structure, such as other Ohio schools have implemented.

        “We wanted to come out as far in advance as we could to say: "This is what you're paying. This is it,'” said university spokesman Greg Hand.

        UC is the latest institution across Ohio and Kentucky to approve a tuition increase for next year. Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights and Miami University in Oxford recently raised tuition by 9.5 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.

        At UC, full-time, in-state students will pay $2,312 per quarter in tuition and fees, up from $2,055. Per year, the cost will be $6,936, up from $6,165

        This increase compares to a 14 percent bump for the 2001-02 academic year, when the board of trustees in June raised tuition 8 percent and then added another 6 percent midyear.

        An agreement reached in February between Gov. Bob Taft and the Inter-University Council — which comprises presidents of the state-funded universities — ensures tuition increases for continuing students at Ohio schools will not exceed 10 percent for the 2002-03 school year.

        Mr. Taft had threatened tuition caps in the wake of an initial proposal at Ohio State University to raise tuition an extraordinary 35 percent.

        For schools that implement two-tiered plans — or charging freshmen one rate and continuing students another — the agreement will keep additional increases for incoming students to $300 or less for the school year.

        But UC will not implement that kind of plan for several reasons, Mr. Hand said.

        One, it makes tuition complicated for families trying to plan. Two, spreading out a single price it more equitable. Three, with the midyear increase already approved, UC didn't need to make that move.

        Though several steps have been taken to hold down tuition increases — including universitywide budget cuts, strict limits on new expenditures and refinancing debt — UC students said additional tuition increases will be tough to swallow.

        “We understand where you're coming from,” Darren Tolliver, an undergraduate student trustee, told the board. “The reality is, for a lot of students, they just can't do it. We're going to lose students.”

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