The Georgia Board of Regents voted Tuesday to raise tuition next school year at about 30 public colleges and universities.

The tuition increase is 2 percent and includes many of the state’s largest schools such as the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Kennesaw State University. Graduate school tuition was capped at 2.5 percent.

The board also approved 12 various fees at some schools and lower them at three.

The board voted last year to freeze tuition rates after state lawmakers questioned several years of tuition hikes in the University System of Georgia. A December state audit found the average annual cost of attending a University System of Georgia school increased from $8,361 to $14,791, a 77 percent increase, during a recent 10-year stretch.

USG officials noted the average tuition at its schools, about $7,100 a year, is the sixth lowest among the 16 states in the Southern Regional Education Board.

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