Some 30,000 credit-seeking students attending Community College of Allegheny County will pay 4 percent more for tuition during the 2008-09 academic year after trustees yesterday approved the largest price increase since 2004.

Citing rising cost pressures and a desire to advance the institution, board members meeting in special session on the Allegheny campus unanimously approved the measure, effective July 1. It lifts tuition from $82 per credit to $85.25, an increase of $78 annually over the current yearly rate of $1,968 for a full-time student taking 24 credits.

It's the biggest tuition increase at CCAC since an 8 percent hike in 2004. The board last year approved a 2.5 percent increase, froze tuition in 2006 and increased it by 3 percent in 2005.

This year's vote came after trustees on March 6 delayed a vote when several said they wanted to see more material justifying the increase.

Board Chairman Thomas Santone and administrators, including the school's new President Alex Johnson, defended the action.

"We do not take tuition increases lightly here, and every dollar is of critical importance. But we also do not take lightly our obligation to our students and our region," Mr. Santone said. "We need this tuition increase to keep pace with the sort of excellence we're committed to.

"Without it, we're afraid we'll fall behind," he said.

Tuition rates this academic year at CCAC are roughly in the middle among the 14 community colleges statewide. Administrators provided data indicating that tuition and fees totaling $2,669 charged by CCAC are the second lowest among those schools, just higher than Westmoreland County Community College at $2,430 and lower than Butler County Community College at $2,790.

"This tuition increase will not move us appreciably higher in our position [regarding] tuition and fees," said Dr. Johnson, in his first day on the job.

Some students even before yesterday's vote said they were having trouble paying for college. But last evening on the South campus, full-time nursing student Terry Kray, 35, of Monongahela, said he's OK with the new rate if in return he gets quality teaching and modern resources.

"It affects me a little bit, but at the same time, as long as we've got up-do-date computers and up-to-date software, I don't mind," he said. "Seventy-eight dollars is a drop in the bucket."

The college is developing a budget for 2008-09 that at this point is likely to total nearly $96.5 million, an increase of less than 1 percent.

The college said the higher tuition will help balance its budget by generating $1.36 million in additional revenues. It expects to save $1.8 million by extending the time frame for filling vacant employee positions.