Tuition outlook: who'll pay, who'll save: area schools look to give more students a break.

• Author: Caley, Nora
• Position: Higher ED

On June 9, Gov. Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 3, which allows governing boards of public colleges and universities to raise tuition up to 9 percent annually from fiscal year 2011 to 2016 without having to seek approval from the Legislature. For an increase of more than 9 percent, an institution would have to seek approval from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.

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The governor also signed House Bill 1428, which allocates $35 million in funds from CollegeInvest to benefit higher education.

One goal for the bills was to increase funding to schools so they could allocate more money to scholarships and financial aid, according to statements that day by the governor and various legislators. Colorado colleges and universities say they have been working to help students finance their education through new financial-aid programs, discounts and other assistance.

One highly publicized effort came in June, when Colorado State University announced it would offer a tuition discount starring in fall 2011. Undergraduate students who are Colorado residents and whose families earn less than $57,000 a year will pay half CSU's tuition rate. That's a discount of about $2,600 a year available for students at CSU-Pueblo or CSU-Fort Collins. With this Commitment to Colorado program, students who also receive Pell Grants will not have to pay any tuition or fees.

The decades-old Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to low-income students seeking their first bachelor's degree or certain post-baccalaureate degrees related to teaching certification. The amount of the grant is based on several factors, including the amount that the student's family will contribute to his or her education, the cost of tuition, whether the student attends full or part time and whether the student attends for a full academic year or less.

It's not just low-income students who need help financing their education. "We believe we can direct more financial aid to middle-income students," says Ken McConnellogue, associate vice president for university relations for the University of Colorado system. "Students in the low end of the socioeconomic scale tend to get more federal financial aid in the form of Pell Grants. What we feel this will do is make college more affordable for middle-income families."

In 2002, CU generated $38 million in financial aid, compared to $105 million today. Just more than half of that, $55 million, comes from...