Bowling Green, Ky. - While tuition at Western Kentucky University will go up in 2005-06, it won't go up by as much as had been anticipated.

The University's Board of Regents on Friday approved a recommendation to lower the tuition increase 1.8 percent, or $62 for the fall 2005 semester.

Tuition was originally set in April 2004 after the Kentucky General Assembly adjourned without passing a budget. However, the budget approved in the 2005 session "proved beneficial for postsecondary education," WKU President Gary Ransdell said. That has allowed the University to revise its tuition and fee schedule, lowering it $62, or 1.8 percent, from the rate approved in 2004. A residential undergraduate student will pay $2,580 for the fall of 2005 and $2,736 for the spring of 2006. Those amounts are 15.7 percent above 2004-05, but less than the 17.8 percent previously approved.

"We were the only university to set tuition in advance," Dr. Ransdell said, adding that those rates have been published so that students and their families can plan accordingly.

Dr. Ransdell said the revised tuition and the increased state funding will allow Western to continue with high quality academic programs and physical plant upgrades that were planned with the original tuition projections. He added that the spring increase represents the Campus Rebuilding Fee necessary for major physical plant upgrades.

In other business, the board:

*Approved a four-year graduation guarantee, effective with the fall of 2006. "Students will now know that if they stay with a particular program of study, they will graduate in four years or we will make up the margin," Dr. Ransdell said.

The University will develop a list of eligible programs, outline course sequences and designate advisors for those programs. Students will be required to sign a guarantee contract by the end of their third semester, stay with the courses as outlined and maintain a minimum 2.0 grade-point average. If the university fails to provide the prescribed courses, it will pay the tuition on those courses.

"You'll not find anything like this at another Kentucky university," Dr. Ransdell said.

*Approved President Ransdell's annual evaluation and a 5 percent salary increase for the 2005-06 fiscal year. Regent Kristen Bale of Glasgow, who chaired the evaluation committee, said, "This board believes that President Ransdell is maintaining the caliber of excellence that is expected at this University."

*Approved the creation of a Center for the Study of Lifespan Development in the Psychology Department and a Center for Gerontology in the College of Health and Human Services. Both centers will benefit from an endowment established through a gift from Cliff Todd.

*Approved the purchase of property from the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center for $1 million. The property is being used for parking. SKyPAC is selling the property after deciding to move a proposed performing arts center to the downtown area.

*Approved a five-year management services contract with Sodexho Campus Services for the leadership and direction of the facilities management and planning, design and construction departments.

*Approved a four-year contract for external auditor services with Crowe Chizek and Company LLC.

*Approved changing the University's mailing address to 1906 College Heights Blvd. in conjunction with the upcoming celebration of the University's centennial. The names of three streets will also change: 15th Street from State Street to Big Red Way, Big Red Way from 15th Street to Dogwood Drive, and Dogwood Drive will become College Heights Boulevard. Big Red way from Dogwood Drive to University Boulevard will become Avenue of Champions.

*Approved naming Dr. Afzalur Rahim as University Distinguished Professor.

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