College costs may be on the rise for future out-of-state residents beginning fall 2017. On Thursday the first of two public hearings were conducted by university officials to discuss the proposed tuition increase for all incoming non-resident undergraduate students
Currently the rate per credit hour for out-of-state undergraduates is two hundred dollars. The proposed change will raise it four hundred and cost students an extra three thousand dollars per semester.  Additionally, out-of-state students will have to receive at least a four thousand dollar competitive scholarship to receive the out-of-state tuition waiver compared to the current policy of a one thousand dollar scholarship. Out-of-state students currently attending A&M will not be affected by the change.
The Board of Regents will vote to finalize these changes Feb. 8-10. Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer Jerry Strawser said A&M is performing at the same level as other universities for a lower rate.
“We looked at where our price was relative to our competition and saw a pretty big discrepancy there,” Strawser said. “If you look at our faculty, if you look at our programs, if you look at the people who hire our students, we are performing as well as they are, and the price just seemed out of whack and it was just a good opportunity to take a look.”
During the tuition hearing President Michael Young said an increase in revenue is intended to attract more faculty from competitive universities.
“The question is ensuring we have enough resources to employ the best,” Young said. “The really big thing is faculty and what we can do to attract them from other universities and continue to build upon what we have.”
Agricultural economics junior Anne Marie Wolf, a student from Louisiana, expressed her concern about the changes discouraging out-of-state students from coming to A&M.
“I think we will see a decrease in out-of-state students,” Wolf said. “If they do lose a lot of out-of-states, you lose that diversity on campus and just different views of different parts of the United States.”
During the hearing, Wolf raised her concerns and A&M Provost Karen Watson said the university plans to start a stronger advertising campaign to attract more out-of-state residents.
“What happens is a lot of people that should know about us don’t know about us,” Watson said. “One of the things we are trying to do that we just take for granted is get out and tell people what a great institution we are.”
According to Strawser five percent of students at A&M are out-of-state students. Strawser said students should still look at the value the university offers.
“Obviously, we will lose students that were coming here because it was an out-of-state school that was inexpensive,” Strawser said. “I think the increase puts us in a good place with the competition. I think if they look at the value we offer we will stack up very well.”