Wayne State University President David Adamany has proposed an average 3 percent tuition and fee increase for full-time undergraduates and 3.7 percent for full-time graduate students for the 1997-98 academic year.

Undergraduate students at universities that restrict tuition to the rate of inflation for the previous year qualify for a state tuition tax credit. The state treasurer has certified the applicable consumer price index for 1996 was 3 percent. Thus WSU undergraduate students will once again qualify for the tuition tax credit.

Approved by the Board of Governors at its meeting June 20, the new rates reflect the university's commitment to tuition restraint. Along with a similar tuition increase last year, it is the lowest rate of increase in the previous 10-year period.

The new rates (see chart) raise credit hour rates for Michigan residents $3 per credit hour for freshmen and sophomores, $4 per hour for juniors, seniors and post-bachelor's students and $6 per hour for graduate students.

The registration fee has been reduced $3 per student per semester to $69.

Wayne State has followed a policy of tuition restraint and maintained the lowest rate of increase - (87.4 percent) - of all 15 Michigan public universities over the last 14 years. Rates at the other 14 public universities have ranged from a low of 124 percent to a high of 183.3 percent.

After state appropriations, which provide about two-thirds of WSU's general fund operating revenues, tuition revenue is the primary source of funds for operating expenses.

Adjusted for inflation, WSU's increase in tuition over the same 14 years was 5 percent, compared to a range of 25.5 percent to 58.7 percent at 14 other Michigan state universities.

Increases for salaries and fringe benefits, which make up almost 70 percent of general fund expenditures, as well as mandatory increases in utilities, and inflationary increases for supplies and equipment are expected next year. Additionally, costs for improvements to technology are required in academic computing and administrative systems.

Under the new rate schedule for the 1997-98 academic year, an average full-time undergraduate Michigan resident student taking 31 credit hours per academic year will pay $3,658 plus a registration fee of $69 per semester, an increase of $108.50 over 1996-97.

A graduate student taking 12 credit hours per semester, for a total of 24 for the year, will pay $3,816 plus $69 per semester for registration, for an increase of $140.