President Mark Hamilton announced Friday that he is recommending 5 percent tuition increases for the two academic years starting fall 2008.

Although the Board of Regents won't vote on the increase until September, Hamilton is required to announce it by April 15 each year in a memo. He said it gives students an idea of what tuition will look like before they leave for summer.

In September 2006, the board approved a 7 percent hike that will take effect this fall.

That increase puts next year's tuition for lower division credits at $128 and upper division credits at $144.

The newly announced increase is the lowest in years, with the last four years each coming with a 10 percent increase.

Hamilton also suggested another five percent increase for the 2009-10 year. If approved, for the 2008-09 school year, lower division credits would cost $134 each and upper division credits would be $151.

"Tuition isn't the issue; it's affordability," Hamilton said in an interview.

In his memo, Hamilton thanked students for paying for tuition increases for six straight years.

"In doing so, you have not only invested in yourselves, you have also invested in your university," he wrote. "Your voice has been heard; future increases must be kept to a reasonable rate to ensure access for Alaska students."

Hamilton's recommendation is only slightly more than inflation.

Tuition at UA is required to increase by inflation, unless the regents say otherwise.

In 2005, inflation hit 3.9 percent on the Higher Education Price Index.

For this latest tuition proposal, the Board of Regents had asked Hamilton to explore a predictable tuition, also known as guaranteed tuition or a tuition promise, where students would pay a fixed rate for tuition for five or six years.

But Hamilton has decided not to go that route.

"It just cannot be done," he said.

The regents created a task force to look deeper into the issue, and its recommendations after six months of research led Hamilton to the conclusion that it would not be beneficial to start the program.

In his memo, Hamilton said the strategy of fixed tuition "reduces the university's ability to respond and requires students to pay higher rates early in their academic career."

The inflexibility Hamilton was referring to would be if the economy suddenly took a dive and the rates that students were guaranteed would not be enough to cover even fixed costs.

"We gave it our best shot," he said. "We couldn't do it."

The task force talked with administrators from three colleges that currently have a tuition promise, Western Oregon University, Illinois State University and Western Illinois University.

Hamilton stressed the need for state-funded need-based financial aid. In his proposal for the 7 percent rate that passed in September, Hamilton included an option for the board to make it a 10 percent increase, with the extra 3 percent going to need-based scholarships.

But criticism from student government officials persuaded the board to vote down the need-based aid proposal.

Hamilton said tuition increases help facilitate program growth, which benefits all students.

"I believe students have supported much of the programmatic gains," he wrote in his memo, "and it is time to lessen the burden placed on students."