Columbus State Community College is considering raising tuition if state legislators allow it.

If the final state budget, due in July, is like a recent version passed by the House of Representatives, it would mean a price hike of $10 per credit hour — a 7.4 percent increase, or about $90 per semester for the typical Columbus State student.

It would be the first increase in three years; lawmakers banned tuition hikes at state universities and community colleges for the past two.

The current fee of $135.93 per credit hour is about 10 percent below the average for Ohio's community colleges, said Allen Kraus, vice-president for marketing and communications for Columbus State. Although the college had tuition hikes averaging less than 2 percent per year in 2013, 2014 and 2015, it still is lagging from a six-year period between 2007 and 2012 when tuition remained unchanged.

"It was at the height of the recession, and (raising tuition) just felt like the wrong thing to do, even though the opportunity was there," Kraus said.

If the trustees' Committee of the Whole approves a resolution authorizing the increase today, the full Board of Trustees will vote on the matter at another meeting next week.

Though the trustees' vote won't commit the college to spending an increase in a particular way, the college wants to use it to hire more advisers and boost other resources for programs that help Columbus State students continue on to four-year colleges and earn bachelor's degrees after completing their associate's degrees.

Statewide, community colleges maintain that so-called "two plus two" programs are making bachelor's degrees more affordable, and Ohio's other community colleges are likely to seek any allowable increase, too, said Jack Hershey, president of the Ohio Association of Community Colleges.

Also at today's meeting, trustees will consider setting a policy for naming rights to honor financial donors and other supporters of the college. It's a gesture of optimism; Columbus State has added new members to the board of its foundation and ramped up fund-raising efforts, and if someone proposes a major gift, the college wants to be able to offer a naming opportunity, Kraus said.

The Columbus State Foundation was established in 1982 but was a relatively sleepy affair until President David Harrison was hired in 2010, foundation Director Pam Bishop said. Bishop was hired in 2013. Since then, gifts from AEP's foundation and J.P. Morgan Chase have helped create the Credits Count dual-enrollment program and the Central Ohio Compact.

The college isn't campaigning yet for a specific project, Kraus said, but hopes are high that it can attract support for the Culinary and Hospitality program. Kraus said the program is "top-ranked in the state, even though it operates out of the basement of one of our oldest buildings." He said the state capital budget, unveiled a year ago, provided $10 million to go toward facilities for the program.

mcedward@dispatch.com

@MaryMoganEdward