State higher education leaders will discuss tuition increases as high as 24 percent at public universities, an unprecedented jump they say signals the direness of Tennessee's economic woes.

When the Tennessee Higher Education Commission meets today in anticipation of next week's budget hearing with Gov. Phil Bredesen, administrators will see models of university tuition increases for 2009-10 ranging from 10 percent with no state funding change to 24 percent with a 15 percent cut.

Community college tuition increases would range between 10 percent and 29 percent.

Those increases would bring schools level with the current year's budget, taking into account inflation and enrollment changes. They would not reflect any other cuts made by schools to offset state funding decreases.

If schools did nothing else but raise tuition to meet last year's funding after 15 percent budget cuts, full-time students would pay $6,732 next year at Middle Tennessee State University, for example, compared with $5,700 this year.

"We can't take cuts like that and pass it all on to students," said Charles Manning, chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents. "We have to figure out how to do our overall job more efficiently."

Rich Rhoda, THEC executive director, said he didn't expect increase proposals to reach the maximum projections because of schools' preparations to cut programs and staff.

Rhoda acknowledged, however, that the state's financial situation is very different from this time last year, when schools were coming off of two straight years of increased state funds and were expecting a third.

That was before the economy began to slow down, and well before the bottom fell out. Higher education was forced to take two cuts totaling $100 million as the state's economy worsened.

Board of Regents and University of Tennessee officials are expecting state appropriation cuts of at least 10 percent, and have said double-digit tuition increases probably will accompany program cuts.

McPhee offers plan

"Knowing the cuts that lie ahead, we are not planning on having tuition to offset those cuts," MTSU President Sidney McPhee said. "There will have to be some tuition increase just for us to continue to keep doors open, but I think it would be unreasonable to think that tuition needs to go up in correlation with the budget cuts."

McPhee announced a plan Wednesday to form four campus groups to look at revenue sources, energy efficiency possibilities and opportunities to cut or reorganize campus personnel and departments.

Tina Messamore, whose daughter Diana would be a senior at MTSU when any increase would take effect, said the raises could force the family to take out an additional student loan.

If the tuition raises helped increase class offerings, however, Messamore would be in favor of it. She's afraid her daughter will have to go an extra year after she wasn't able to get into some of her upper-level classes because of diminished course sections.

"If it enables them to offer more sections and kids can get out in four years, in the long run it will save you money," Messamore said.

Contact Colby Sledge at 615-259-8229 or ccsledge@tennessean.com.