Latest news, weather, high school sports for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

HOUGHTON -- For most Michigan Tech students, the cost of living on campus is going up.

There won't be any change at the new Hillside Place apartment building, but students living and eating at the dormitory-style residence halls will see rates rise by about 2.21 percent.

The greatest increase will affect the popular Daniel Heights residences, with monthly rent expected to rise as much as 6.5 percent.

"There are just some costs that you really can't control,” says Vice President of Student Affairs, Les Cook.  “When we look at increases, we try to figure out what it is that we absolutely have to do to keep a facility at the quality we had previously."

Tech's Board of Control approved the new housing and meal rates at their regular meeting Thursday morning.  But they aren't using those minimal increases to cover for any future budget cuts.

Governor Snyder’s proposed reductions could cost Tech more than $10 million.  And that's where the university's ongoing capital campaign comes in.  They've raised more $140 million so far which, among other things, has provided student scholarships and faculty endowments.

"This is one of those situations where it's great to have a strategic plan in place, so that you know what's really important and really critical to making the university move forward,” says President Glenn Mroz.  “And that's what we're going to do."

Of course, State funding will continue to be a consideration as the Board decides on tuition at their next meeting in April.

Any increase would likely be less than seven percent to reduce overall cuts if the proposed budget goes through.  Mroz says that keeping rates competitive on the global level is always a priority.