President James Votruba announced that tuition will rise by 9.68 percent in the 2008-09 academic year at the Student Government Association meeting April 14.

It was a hard decision, he said. But leadership is about challenging choices.

In the 11 years Votruba has been at Northern Kentucky University, he said this has been his toughest year of being president.

He said he is concerned over the softness of the state’s budget