Texas Tech University’s System Board of Regents’ finance committee has approved a tuition hike for the coming fall semester.

A slight net increase of 1.95 percent was approved by the board Thursday, pending final approval Friday. It will add about $89 for 15 hours of semester credit.

On the increase, Texas Tech President Guy Bailey said “As we continue to grow, the university needs to retain and hire quality faculty to help increase student engagement and retention.When evaluating our options in increasing tuition and fees, we made very conservative decisions to minimize the impact on our student body.”

The increase percentage is the second smallest in the past 20 years, and ranks as fourth lowest in dollar value. Regents set forth a timeline during their meeting today which includes adding 500 faculty members and 300 staff members, as well as around 1,000 graduate assistants with gradual pay increases. A planned renovation of residence halls was also included in the timeline, along with the addition of 1 million square feet of research space.

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