The board approved a package of room-and-board rates for the 2008-09 academic year with an overall increase of 3.5 percent and an increase of five percent for university apartments, both of which are below the higher education price index (HEPI).

The HEPI is an inflation index designed specifically to track the main cost drivers in higher education. HEPI is a more accurate indicator of changes in costs for colleges and universities than the more familiar Consumer Price Index. It measures the average relative level of prices in a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by colleges and universities each year through current fund educational and general expenditures, excluding research.

Effective the fall semester 2008, it will cost $4452 annually for a student to live in an on-campus residential hall, a $150 increase from last year.

"Wayne State University offers its students a great learning experience based upon its location in the heart of a thriving cultural community," said Howard Shapiro, Wayne State's associate vice president for academic affairs. "It is of the utmost importance that we keep our exemplary housing available and affordable to give our students the access and opportunity to explore city life."

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 12 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.