Students might have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for college if the OU Board of Trustees approves increases in tuition and recreation costs later this year.

OU Provost Sharon Brehm and Darrell Winefordner, associate provost for budget and planning, announced next year's preliminary budget to the trustees Friday. The budget would require students to pay 6 percent more for tuition and $4 more for the Charles J. Ping Student Recreation Center use and recreation costs.

The proposed 6 percent tuition increase would boost rates from this year's $4,275 to more than $4,500 for the 1998-99 academic year.

"I think the 6 percent is what we need in order to continue growing as a university," Brehm said.

The 6 percent increase is the maximum increase allowed by state law. The trustees approved a 5 percent tuition boost last year.

In addition to the proposed tuition increase, students also could have $4 tacked on to their quarterly Ping Center/recreation fee of $65.

The money represents an "all encompassing recreation fee," Winefordner said.

The $69 Ping Center fee would cover increases in salaries, operating costs and equipment replacement. In addition, club sports will be funded through the Division of Campus Recreation instead of the Student Activities Commission, and campus recreation also will receive $20,000 in social programming.

"The additional social programming is meant to divert activities from Court Street," Winefordner said. The preliminary sketch included a 3.5 percent increase in faculty and staff salaries, totaling more than $4.5 million, and it proposed more than $1.6 million in scholarships and fee waivers.

Other changes in next year's budget include a $1 million investment in academic technology and a $100,000 boost for student activities funding.

"We've been trying to make a commitment to increase (student activity funds)," Winefordner told the trustees.

Next year's budget will have to be approved by the Board of Trustees at its June meeting. If state legislators cut higher education funding as a result of the May 5 election, OU administrators will re-evaluate the plan before they present a final version.

State Issue 2 on the May 5 ballot is a proposed one-cent tax increase from 5 to 6 percent that would provide primary and secondary education in Ohio more than $1.1 billion.

The trustees approved a resolution in support of passage of State Issue 2.

Some higher education officials fear if Issue 2 fails, Ohio public colleges and universities could see some cuts in their budgets.

"The legislators don't see higher education in crisis; they see schools in crisis," OU President Robert Glidden said.

Trustee Patricia Ackerman, who also works in the Cleveland Heights School District, regrets that primary and secondary education and higher education often compete for state funding.

"Instead, we should be funding pre-kindergarten through 16th grade," she said.

College deans and the provost's office are preparing letters from Glidden to all parents of OU students encouraging support for Issue 2.

"We urge faculty and students to pass the issue," Student Trustee Erik Roush said.