The board of trustees discussed a possible $17 per credit hour tuition increase for students at their May 20 board retreat.

A tentative $1.8 million budget for the upcoming year, which currently includes a $17 per credit hour tuition increase for students, has been approved by the budget committee and was presented at the meeting by Trustee Steve Pierce. However, Pierce said the tuition increase is not finalized, and will be reviewed and discussed again before the board votes at their June meeting.

The tuition adjustment would mean a 7.71 percent tuition increase for undergraduates and 6.6 percent increase for graduate students, Pierce said.

SGA President Laura Giles presented a resolution to increase the student transportation fee by two dollars, in order to implement GPS tracking systems on university buses. If the resolution is approved at the June meeting, the systems will be installed this summer.

Giles, along with Vice President for Student Affairs David Shields, also proposed doubling the student health services fee, which is currently set at $50. The additional revenue would initially be used to hire additional staff at Student Counseling Services.

Shields said hiring additional staff is necessary to best serve UNA students and to put the university on par with the national average ratio of students to licensed professional counselors.

“It could take a student anywhere from 10 days to two weeks to see a counselor as it stands now,” Shields said.

Giles also presented a student petition to name the incoming Academic Commons Building after history professor Larry Nelson, who was diagnosed May 17 with Glioblastoma Grade IV brain cancer.

Giles said 1,100 students signed the petition.

President Cale discussed introducing an Engineering Technology Program to the College of Arts and Sciences.

“I think we should seriously consider it,” Cale said. “Students who complete these degrees are very sophisticated in their technical training.”

Cale said the program is not nearly as expensive to initiate as mechanical engineering programs. Installing labs for the technical engineering program would cost about $1 million, and hiring department chairs and faculty members would cost $2.7 million.

The program would take five years to be fully implemented and would be part of the incoming science building.

All discussion at the board of trustees retreat will be further discussed and voted on during their June meeting.