Mary Washington College students will have to shell out more money to attend class next semester.

The college’s board of visitors yesterday unanimously approved a $255 midyear tuition increase for students at its Fredericksburg campus and its James Monroe Center for Graduate and Professional Studies in southern Stafford County.

This will raise tuition 9.6 percent for in-state students and 2.6 percent for those from other states. Part-time students will pay $17 more per credit hour.

The tuition increase will help offset about half of a nearly $1.8 million reduction in yearly state funding. This will cushion the blow to the college’s academic program and preserve jobs and salaries.

“I think the board has a commitment to making education affordable, but also a quality experi ence,” said Dori Eglevsky, board rector.

The remaining belt-tightening will come from such measures as freezing vacancies, slashing oper ating budgets and reducing funds for faculty development and undergraduate research, said Richard Hurley, MWC’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Several other colleges and universities across the state also have raised tuition or will consider it soon. George Mason University, for example, recently raised its tuition $192.

MWC’s midyear increase comes on the heels of this fall’s $140 jump in tuition for in-state students and $658 increase for out-of-state students. That money helped make up for the cash-strapped state’s previous college budget cut.

MWC President William M. Anderson Jr. warned the board that more belt-tightening is looming on the horizon. Gov. Mark Warner is likely to ask the General Assembly in December to approve an additional $1 billion to $1.5 billion in cuts to finish balancing the state’s biennial budget, he said.

“This gets us through fiscal year 2003,” Anderson said, referring to the latest cuts. “It does not get us through fiscal 2004.”

After the full board meeting, several members met with representatives from George Washington’s Fredericksburg Foundation and the City Council to discuss the pros and cons of turning the city’s old Maury School into a presidential center.

The group originally had planned to focus on James Monroe, but now is considering George Washington as well. Both lived in the Fredericksburg area before becoming U.S. presidents. “There’s potential there for a broader plan,” Eglevsky said. “We saw numerous, numerous opportunities.”