NEW BRUNSWICK — Rutgers University's Board of Governors raised tuition 1.8 percent today — slashing the planned tuition hike in half — in a dramatic vote designed to send a message that the state university understands New Jersey families are struggling financially.



The board voted 7-2 to cut the planned 3.6 percent tuition hike for in-state undergraduates in half after a long debate at a three-hour meeting in New Brunswick.



Ralph Izzo, the chairman of the Rutgers governing board, proposed the last-minute reduction that caught some board members by surprise.



"These are different times. The world changed drastically in 2008," Izzo said, citing the high unemployment rate and financial problems triggered by the recession.



Rutgers President Richard McCormick asked that the board approve the 3.6 percent increase that his administration spent weeks preparing. But the board ultimately sided with Izzo.

The sudden change means Rutgers officials will have to cut more than $11 million from their new budget to make up for the loss in tuition revenue. Campus officials were still calculating exactly how much students will have to pay under the new tuition plan.



Preliminary calculations said the average Rutgers in-state undergraduate will pay about $178 more in tuition, bringing the annual tuition rate to $10,104. The board also proposed an increase of less than 1 percent for mandatory fees, bringing that total to about $2,650.



The board also approved increases in room and board, out-of-state tuition and graduate tuition.



Rutgers students, professors and staff held a rally outside the meeting to protest the tuition hike and the university's freeze on pay increases for all employees. Last month, the board of governors abruptly closed their meeting to the public and closed a movable wall across the meeting room after the crowd in Winants Hall grew rowdy.



So, the average undergraduate will pay about $12,754 in tuition and fees this fall — before room, board, books and other costs are added in.

New Jersey's other four-year public colleges are holding similar meeting to raise tuition this month.



New Jersey's tuition rates remain among the highest in the nation. Last year, undergraduate tuition and fees ranged from $9,347 a year at New Jersey City University to $39,816 a year at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. The cost of room, board, books and other fees could add thousands more to each student's bill.

Previous coverage:

• After Rutgers students stage 35-hour sit-in, president says he won't support tuition freeze

• Rutgers University students protest tuition hikes with sit-in inside administrative building

• Rutgers University board approves tuition, fee hike in $2B budget plan

