Topeka ? The Kansas Board of Regents today approved a tuition increase for new freshmen of nearly 16 percent, but that rate will be frozen for those students for four years.

Meanwhile, for other students at KU, the regents approved a 7.3 percent increase in tuition and fees for resident undergraduates and 6.5 percent for nonresident undergraduates. That would bring the cost of a 15-hour course load for a resident undergraduate to $3,299.75 and for a nonresident to $8,053.25.

The changes take effect for the fall semester.

Monies from the tuition increases will go toward salary increases for faculty and staff and to cover increasing utility costs, and other campus improvements, KU officials said.

Under the tuition compact proposal, first-time freshmen this fall at KU would pay a fixed tuition rate for four years. Housing costs would be frozen in two-year increments, and course and campus fees would be projected in four-year schedules.

The proposal would charge resident freshmen $213 per credit hour, which is 15.9 percent more than the current rate of $183.75. For full-time, resident freshmen, tuition would be $3,408 per semester, which is $468 more than this year. Add proposed fees of $377.75 and a freshman starting this fall will pay $3,785.75. KU calculates its compact costs based on a 16-hour per semester class load.

But the tuition would stay at that rate for four years.

KU immediately touted the plan in a press release.