CHEYENNE -- University of Wyoming tuition rates could soon jump as much as 10 percent during each of the next four years to pay for library and academic improvements, under proposals the UW board of trustees will consider next month.

A tuition hike, if passed, would mark the first time in four years that the sticker price of attending UW has gone up for Wyoming undergraduates.

During its meeting Nov. 19-21 in Laramie, board members will consider three proposals that would raise tuition for both undergraduate and graduate students by 5 percent, 7.5 percent or 9.9 percent, respectively, each year through 2014.

However, while each of the three proposed tuition increases would technically take effect next school year, students would not see a difference in their tuition bills until the 2011-12 school year, UW President Tom Buchanan said. That's because federal stimulus money would be used to cover any tuition increase next year.

Each of the three proposed rate hikes would apply to undergraduates and graduate students both from Wyoming and out of state.

University administrators will also outline tuition increases for the school's law, pharmacy and master's of business administration programs during a meeting with the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming on Tuesday evening.

Final details of those proposals are still being worked out, Buchanan said, though he said "the overall approach is generally consistent with what you see with (the proposals for) undergraduate and graduate students."

Even if a tuition increase passes, UW will still rank among the most affordable universities in the country. Tuition for in-state undergraduates for the 2009-10 school year was $2,820; in-state graduate students paid $3,294. Out-of-state undergrads and graduate students were charged $10,740 and $9,414, respectively, this year.

The tuition increases are needed to improve the university's library collection and educational programs, Buchanan said.

The university's current top priority is to bolster the UW library's collection of books, academic journals and scientific literature, which since the 1980s has declined because of inadequate funding, Buchanan said.

"I think we didn't keep up with our library needs, and now we're having to make up some lost ground," he said.

Buchanan said the tuition hike would also help improve UW academic programs in a variety of ways -- from replacing decades-old laboratory microscopes to allowing UW Cooperative Extension Service personnel to travel to ranching communities around the state.

UW is looking to its students for additional financial support at a time when state support is uncertain at best.

Last June, at Gov. Dave Freudenthal's request, university trustees cut UW's budget by a record $18.3 million. UW's budget proposal this year looks to keep funding at about the "status quo," Buchanan said.

But even during troubled financial times, Buchanan said the university also wants "to make sure that tuition, the cost of attendance at the University of Wyoming, is as nearly free as possible."

ASUW President Matt Haigler, a senior in engineering, praised UW administrators for informing and involving student leaders in the discussion about raising tuition.

He echoed Buchanan's view that the university needs to strike a balance between a decent college education and an affordable one.

"If you want to get a degree for cheap, you can go buy one on the Internet," Haigler said. "But if you want a quality education, you need certain things. Sometimes quality does cost more."

Contact capital reporter Jeremy Pelzer at (307) 632-1244 or jeremy.pelzer@trib.com