KY College Tuition Increases Capped for '09-'10

Tuition at most Kentucky universities cannot be raised more than five percent for the coming academic year. That's according to a decision issued Friday from the State Council on Post-secondary Education.  Officials ordered the caps despite the fact that universities are experiencing significant budget cuts.  At Eastern Kentucky University, the budget has been trimmed five percent. President Doug Whitlock says staff numbers may not grow this year in order to handle the budget shortfalls."I'm not talking about layoffs or terminations,  I'm talking about such things you know we currently have more than 20 budgeted staff positions that are vacant for which no searches are underway, so we're going to have to look extremely close at those before we make a decision to fill any of them," says Whitlock.Whitlock also says some federal stimulus funds may be available to help soften the blow of budget cuts.