Tuition at UNC Wilmington goes up every year. But next year, it’s going up a little less than expected.

In-state students will likely pay about $145 more this fall, and out-of-state students will pay about $178 more. That’s much less than the $283 increase the UNC Board of Governors had planned for UNCW to offset system-wide budget cuts.

It’s also far less than the $512 hike students faced in the fall of 2012, a 9 percent increase from the year before.

UNCW was able to reduce the original increase proposal by refinancing the debt service on student housing funds, therefore lowering student fees. Last year, UNCW had the second highest debt service fee at $688, next to UNC Greensboro’s $707 fee.

Chancellor Miller proposed the new increase in December to UNCW’s board of trustees, which they accepted.

The sticker price of college was important to Keith Fraser, UNCW’s student body president. Fraser was a high school student in New Jersey when his father started looking for a place to retire. For the Fraser’s, the relatively low cost of UNC schools became a factor in their move. Like many families, his was drawn here by North Carolina’s educational opportunities.

“Hopefully that low tuition will be maintained,” Fraser said.

Tuition isn’t the only thing changing. Fraser pushed hard to give athletics a much-needed $100 increase in student fees.

“Looking at athletics, we need to be more competitive on a national level,” he said. This semester, Fraser has charged the SGA to find more funding for sports clubs too.

The tuition and fee proposal must now be approved by the UNC system in February. If the increase is approved, in-state students will still pay less than $4,000 a year for tuition, average pricing for a UNC system school.