The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Trustees for Ohio State University voted Friday to approve a 9 percent tuition increase for current students, and a $100 surcharge per quarter for new and transfer students.

The tiered tuition plan is the same that Gov. Bob Taft recommended - and the Ohio House approved - in the upcoming two-year budget that takes effect July 1 following the Senate's passage.

Trustees said the tuition increases are meant to ensure the university can continue strengthening academics and minimize the impact of budget woes on current students at a time when state support is sluggish.

"Our tuition proposal will allow the university to maintain its commitment to academic quality - even during the current recession - which is critical to our students as well as to Ohio's longer-term economic vitality and competitiveness," Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost, told trustees.

The tuition increases mean that beginning next year current undergraduates from Ohio will pay $5,658 annually, while an incoming student will pay $6,474 a year. Tuition for nonresidents will increase by 6 percent, to $15,645 a year for current students and $16,461 for new students.

Tuition at the regional campuses will increase 6 percent to $4,800 for full-time undergraduates and to $4,782 at the Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster.

Nearly all 13 Ohio four-year public universities are discussing tuition increases. Last week, Miami University trustees approved a plan to charge Ohioans the same tuition as out-of-state students at its main campus.