Ohio University students could be paying up to six percent more in tuition costs under the proposed 1999-2000 budget plan.

This year, undergraduate in-state students pay $4,530 for tuition and an average of $4,980 for room and board, according to the statistics. Out-of-state tuition for this year is $9,531; graduate tuition is $5,430 for in-state tuition and $10,431 for out-of-state tuition.

About 72 percent of OU's total budget will go toward salaries for faculty, administration and staff members, Glidden said. Of that percentage, one half of the funding will come from state appropriations, and one half will come from tuition revenues.

A full-time professor at OU earns an average of $74,269, an associate professor earns $55,287 and an assistant professor earns $44,473, according to 1997 statistics from the Office of Institutional Research.

Salaries have increased from 1996, when a professor made $71,834, an associate professor made $53,792 and an assistant professor made $43,098, according to the statistics.

But Glidden said the increase in faculty salaries coincides with an increase in inflation rates, and salary increases are not the main priority.

One third of the tuition increase will go back to the students through OU's scholarship funds and financial aid programs, he said.

The OU Board of Trustees will not approve the final budget until the June 25 meeting.

OU's tuition increases are part of a statewide trend to increase student-based revenues that have risen annually by at least five percent since 1995.

At Miami University, the Board of Trustees will meet today to approve a budget proposal that would increase student tuition by 4.9 percent.

In other business, Doug Lawrence, associate provost for information and technology, said students entering OU should not be required to own computers until more research is conducted.

The computer ownership Information Research Council recommended the Fall 2000 target date be postponed for at least a year, he said.

However, Lawrence said the Russ College of Engineering is under consideration for a technology fee beginning Fall Quarter 2000. Engineering students would be required to pay an undetermined amount that would go towards technological advances within the college.

Trustees also will be asked to approve the Center for Appalachian and Rural Health Research, which would attempt to improve the health care in Appalachia, said Carol Blum, interim vice president for research and graduate studies. The center would be established through the OU College of Osteopathic Medicine.

- Kristin Webber contributed to this story