jhancock@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - It's certain Idaho State University and the other three public colleges in the Gem State will approach the State Board of Education about tuition increases for the next school year, but now just isn't the right time, an ISU official said Wednesday.

Kent Tingey, ISU's vice president for advancement, said discussions still need to be conducted with students, faculty and administration.

"We need to figure out what tuition needs to look like and we are nowhere near that point," he said. "It doesn't make sense to even talk about percentages before we sit down and talk about the budget and look at the cuts."

But talking about percentages was just what the presidents of Idaho's four public universities were slated to do at today's State Board of Education meeting. They were expected to ask the board to waive the 10 percent cap on tuition increases.

On Tuesday, however, Bob Kustra, president of Boise State University, said the four presidents would ask for that agenda item to be removed from today's meeting.

Mark Browning, a spokesman for the State Board of Education, said the university presidents will officially ask that the agenda item be removed at the start of today's meeting.

"I think that when they had a chance to sit and think about it, they decided the time wasn't right," Browning speculated.

Browning said the board adopted a rule years ago that dictates no university can bring any fee increase proposal that exceeds 10 percent.

"We just won't look at it," he said.

But because of budget cuts handed down from Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter - he passed a 1 percent holdback in September and a 3 percent holdback last week - the state's universities are now facing serious budget constraints.

Tuesday's decision not to pursue the waiver on the 10 percent maximum fee increase was made just hours before The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released its biennial report grading each state's public university system.

The report gave Idaho an "F" for affordability, one of six categories it uses to grade each state. Idaho received a "D" in that category last year.

The report said Idaho failed because low-wage families had to pay as much as 34 percent of their income, after aid, to cover costs at the state universities. It also said that Idaho's financial aid burden is too low at about five cents for every dollar the student gets in Pell Grants.

Browning said affordability and accessibility are two of the main goals the State Board of Education is working toward. He also said the most recent report, though dated 2008, is written based on information gathered since 2006.

"It doesn't take into account several recent changes, including the Opportunity Scholarships," he said. "We just had our first round of recipients this year. Over 700 students received help."

Browning said the need-based scholarship is intended to bridge the gap between what federal financial aid covers and the actual costs of attending an Idaho public university. The average scholarship is about $3,000.

The Idaho Legislature established the Opportunity Scholarship in 2007 and funded it with a $10 million endowment. To ensure the program could start immediately, the Legislature also allotted another $2 million to be used right away. The Legislature allotted the same dollars in 2008.

"Hopefully, they will be able to do it again this year," Browning said.

He also said a pre-release conference call hosted by the National Center noted that every state received an "F" in the affordability category with the exception of California, which has an extensive, affordable community college system.

Idaho's second lowest grade was a "D" in participation, which is based primarily on the percentage of high school graduates who move on to the state's public universities. It's supposed to gauge opportunity.

Browning said the way the National Center calculates this grade doesn't take into account several factors that set a state such as Idaho apart from the most of the nation.

"A high percentage of our young people go into some kind of mission service after high school," he said. "When those who come back do enter college, they don't get counted."

Further contributing to the low grade has been the Gem State's economy, which has been better than most of the country during the past few years.

"Up until five or six months ago, we had a strong economy in Idaho with plenty of opportunities to make good money right out of high school," Browning said.

Idaho received grades of "C" in the preparation category; "C" in the completion category; "C-" in the benefits category; and an incomplete in the learning category. Respectively, those grades were "C," "C+," "C-" and incomplete in the National Center's 2006 report.

Although Idaho as a whole received a failing grade for affordability, according to the report, Tingey believes ISU stands out in that mix.

"Compared to our peers, we are very affordable," Tingey said. "It's important to us that this university remain affordable. We want to offer a good education at an affordable rate while still accomplishing what we need to as a research institution."

The report stated that all states received an incomplete in the learning category because there is not sufficient data to allow for a meaningful comparison.