By Kassondra Granata

A day before the Connecticut State University System Board of Trustees passed a 2.5 percent tuition increase for all four CSUS schools, President Jack Miller spoke to the CCSU Student Government Association about the hike, making sure the senate understood that CCSU is still one of the least expensive schools in the region.

“At Central we are the least expensive four-year institution in the state,” said Miller. “Our tuition and fees and our overall cost are the least.”

Miller stressed the fact that CCSU will remain the least expensive state school despite the cut.

“For a commuting student here it’s $500 less than for a commuting student at Eastern,” said Miller. “If you are living on campus compared to Southern, it will be $600 less, with Western $700 less, Eastern $700 less and UConn $2500 less.”

The 2.5 percent increase that proposed by the CSUS Finance and Administration Committee of the Board of Trustees at all four State universities is the smallest one-year increase since 2000.

“If you are a commuter you’ll either be $50 less, $200 less or $500 less depending upon whether you are talking about Western, Southern or Eastern,” Miller said.

Miller hopes that the senate will send his input along to fellow students that might have questions concerning the tuition increase topic.

“You’ll get questions from people,” Miller said. “I’d like you to be able to have the information to give to these students.”

Miller encouraged the senate that regardless of the tuition increase, CCSU will still remain to be a great institution.

“While 2.5 percent is an increase and I think in these times it’s tough to justify any increase because everyone’s struggling,” Miller said. “I think that holding it down to 2.5 percent and making sure we still remain to be the best value in terms of access is an important thing for everyone to remember.”