Tuition could increase by 10 percent if enough need-based financial aid becomes available, UA President Mark Hamilton said.

Regents approved a need-based grant of $400 per semester at their latest meeting in Juneau. Hamilton said he would recommend upping his fall 2007 tuition request in April if the legislature increases funding for its own aid program.

At their meeting, regents approved creating a University of Alaska Need Based Financial Aid Program. The program would provide $400 per semester, or $800 a year, to up to 2,200 students taking at least six credits and who are still working on their first 60 college credits.

Alaska has long been chastised for its lack of need-based scholarships. A 2004 report by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education gave Alaska an "F" in affordability.

The $400-per-semester need-based program the regents approved will cost about $1.8 million. The UA Scholars Program, a $1,350-per-semester merit-based scholarship, costs $3.6 million.

Kate Ripley, a university spokesperson, said she was sure regents wanted to give low-income students more money, "but they also had to look at what the total cost would be."

"I wouldn't think anyone would say no to that," Ripley said. "It's free money."

In September, Hamilton asked regents to approve a 7 percent increase for 2007. Regents decided to delay the vote for a year.

In an interview before the regent meeting, Hamilton said he would increase his request to 10 percent if the legislature pours $1 million into the AlaskaAdvantage Program.

With all that potential aid, the question will no longer be cost, Hamilton said.

"Now we can begin to have the discussion we should have had, and that's affordability," Hamilton said.

Gov. Frank Murkowski's 2006 budget request calls for endowing the AlaskaAdvantage Program with $20,000 in loan repayments to generate $1 million for need-based grants.

The program, which provides grants to Alaska students with financial need, dolled out $499,500 to students in 2005. About 89 percent of that went to UA students.

Under a fifth 10 percent hike, students would pay $132 per lower division credit and $149 per upper division credit in fall 2007. Graduate level credits would cost $295 each.

Hamilton will make a formal tuition increase request in April, and a vote would likely come in September.

If approved, it would be the fifth 10 percent hike in five years.

Word of the possible increase came out two weeks ago when Chancellor Steve Jones disclosed it at a Faculty Senate meeting.

Jones told the senate he was worried about how the increases might affect students in need, calling the yearly hikes "a vicious cycle." He noted a recent UAA study that found tuition increases depress enrollment, especially at community colleges.

"I'm really concerned about tuition at community colleges," Jones said. "If you look at community college tuition and how Alaska's compares to the rest of the country, ours is very, very, very high."

Joe Blanchard, president of ASUAF, called Hamilton's tuition increases arbitrary and said he would like Hamilton to back up his proposal with research showing the university needs the increases.

"It's probably a good reason in his head that need-based scholarships are going to justify tuition increases, but at the same time, you're supposed to be helping the student," Blanchard said.

Nationally, tuition and fees for resident undergraduates increased 10.6 percent last year, according to the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, down from 13.9 percent the year before.