FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Germanna Community College students will see the biggest percentage increase in tuition among Virginia institutions of higher education this fall, but they still will be getting a bargain compared to the state's four-year schools.

"We're still somewhere around one-third the cost of a state university and the gap between us is growing," said Germanna President David Sam.

Full-time students at Germanna and most of the Virginia Community College System will pay $2,781 for tuition and mandatory fees for the 2009-10 school year, a 7.6 percent increase.

Students attending the University of Mary Washington will see a 5 percent increase, slightly less than the 5.3 percent average increase being seen across Virginia.

UMW's in-state tuition and fees for 2009-10 will be $7,112. That's below the average of $7,984 for four-year public schools in Virginia.

In-state students who live on the UMW campus will pay $14,574, a 5.5 percent increase. But that total is less than the state average of $15,642.

"It has been an institutional strategy to keep our costs either at the average or below, and we've worked hard over the years to do that," said UMW Executive Vice President Rick Hurley.

Federal stimulus funds allocated to Virginia's public colleges and universities helped keep the average increase in tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates around the 5 percent level.

The State Council for Higher Education in Virginia report showed the average annual in-state tuition and all mandatory fees at Virginia's 15 four-year schools is $7,984, up 5.3 percent from 2008-09. Richard Bland College, the state's junior college in Petersburg, is increasing its tuition and fees 1.5 percent, to $3,676.

The state's public higher-education institutions are receiving $126.7 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the 2010 fiscal year--which started July 1--to offset planned state funding cuts and to mitigate tuition increases during the recession.

Virginia Tech, for example, boosted 2009-10 tuition by 5 percent, compared to a proposed 10.8 percent increase absent the federal funding.

The General Assembly cut state higher-education funding by an average of 5 percent for the 2008 fiscal year, and by another 14 percent systemwide for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years, SCHEV said.

Gov. Tim Kaine has directed all state agencies to propose further cuts in anticipation of future revenue shortfalls.

The tuition increase will be the lowest annual increase since the 2001-02 school year, but SCHEV notes that the stimulus money is temporary. Last year, in-state tuition and fees at four-year schools rose by more than 7 percent, following a 7 percent increase the previous year.

Out-of-state undergraduates at Virginia's four-year schools will pay an average of $21,173 for tuition and all mandatory fees in the upcoming school year, up about 5.8 percent from $20,020. Including room and board, their total average price will be $28,832.

State Council for Higher Education of Virginia at schev.edu

--Zinie Chen Sampson of The Associated Press and Free Lance-Star reporters Jeff Branscome and Pamela Gould contributed to this report.