DEARBORN – While USA Today reports that tuition increases across the country are lower than usual this year, some of Michigan’s prominent colleges and universities will see significant tuition spikes, nonetheless.

This week, the University of Michigan-Dearborn announced that they will institute a 3.5 percent increase in tuition for the upcoming school year, costing the average full-time student about $5,427 per semester. The good news is that this is the University’s lowest increase, since the 2004-2005 school year. However, it remains higher than the increase that the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor will experience, which is only 1.1%; its lowest in 29 years.

In comparison, a more alarming increase faces Wayne State University students. The University announced this week that they will be increasing tuition rates by a whopping 9.3 percent, which equates to an additional $900 for every student, per year. Wayne State President Allan Gilmour told the Detroit News on Wednesday, June 26 that the tuition hike would generate an additional $10 million a year for the University.

Henry Ford Community College will also experience a significant tuition increase. Earlier this year, the college announced a tuition increase of about seven percent, in order to help cover some of the college’s $7.5 million deficit. Under the proposed increase, tuition for district residents is expected to climb from $75, to $82 per credit hour. Non-residents would also see a rise from $135, to $142 per credit hour, while out-of-state and international students would see a hike up to $147 per credit hour, up from the current $140.

At Michigan State University, the average 2.8 percent tuition hike for in-state undergraduate students is the lowest since 2005. Under the 2013-14 budget, approved by the MSU Board of Trustees at its June 21 meeting, tuition for in-state, lower division students, who are considered to be freshmen and sophomores, will increase by 1.9 percent. Tuition for in-state, upper division students, considered to be juniors and seniors, will go up by 3.6 percent.