ARDMORE — Students will be seeing an increase in their bursar bills this fall after the OU Board of Regents approved a 5-percent tuition increase.

The regents, who met Monday through Wednesday at the Noble Conference Center and Pavilion in Ardmore, voted in favor of mandatory fee increases totaling $5.65 and a 5-percent tuition increase. The combined tuition and fees increase will cost resident undergraduate students about $170 more each semester while non-resident, undergraduate students will pay about $431 more each semester for a student taking 15 credit hours, OU President David Boren said. This is the second time tuition has increased in two years, according to Daily archives. Tuition increased by 4.5 percent during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Tuition increases aren’t the only method the university has used to deal with state-funding decreases. Boren asked for 5-percent budget cuts university-wide and a partial hiring freeze that is still in effect, according to the agenda.

The tuition increase has been expected since early March when OU told Fitch Ratings — one of the biggest credit-rating companies in the world — a 4.5-percent tuition increase would be a way to pay back debts after the credit company evaluated OU’s bond rating, according to Daily archives. The final 5-percent increase is higher than OU anticipated.

This tuition raise still leaves OU in the top two most affordable institutions in the Big 12 Conference, Boren said.

Graduate Student Senate chairman Derrell Cox attended the meeting and spoke with Boren. Cox said he was worried fees would increase more than they did, and that it is harder to subsidize fees than it is tuition.

“Reasonable people understand [a tuition increase] is inevitable,” Cox said.

The tuition increase is in part a response to a decrease in funds distributed by the state and federal governments to higher education.

While OU has seen steady increases in state funds during the last decade, the previous two years have been decreases as state and federal funds distributed decrease, according to Daily archives. The university received about $15 million less from state and federal funds this year compared the last fiscal year.

Boren said he does not yet know if tuition will increase again next year because it is difficult to predict whether the state’s economy will rebound enough to increase state appropriations.

“I am guardedly optimistic that there will be an economic recovery,” Boren said.

University of Oklahoma Student Association press secretary Joe Sangirardi was glad the regents approved such a low number, and he said UOSA fully trusts Boren with the university’s budget.

“We recognize the necessity to find pragmatic solutions to budget woes,” Sangirardi said. “We are grateful to the regents for helping us with these issues.”

In other business, the regents approved the budget for the 2012 fiscal year, which housed the faculty and staff salary increases and the tuition and fees increase.

Boren gave a long speech about the budget and said current trends in politics to move public money away from schools jeopardizes the nation’s ability to provide equal opportunity to all its people. If money isn’t invested back into the schools of America, school will be privatized, and it could be difficult to afford, he said.

The tuition increase will not be finalized until approved by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

Updated: This story was updated to reflect new information

Correction: This story was corrected to accurately portray the amount of times tuition has increased in the last years. Tuition increased by 4.5 percent during the 2010-2011 academic year.