When Loyola’s students and faculty returned to an undamaged campus after a semester in exile last fall, another thing they returned to and found intact were tuition rates and salaries.

With the university now operating in a post-Katrina New Orleans and reaching what administrators say is a point of stability, the University Budget Committee has recommended the first tuition and salary increase since Hurricane Katrina.

The Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, will ask the Board of Trustees to approve a 5 percent tuition increase for undergraduate tuition rates when he meets with them next Thursday and Friday.

“Nothing is set until they vote,” Wildes said.

According to the 2005-2006 undergraduate bulletin, tuition for a first-year freshman is $12,205 a semester. An increase of 5 percent would raise that rate by $610.25.

Wildes said increasing the tuition rates is more than just keeping up with inflation. The economy of New Orleans’ a year after Hurricane Katrina was a big factor to propose the tuition increase, he said.

“I am also very conscious of wages and salaries for faculty and staff, the fact that there were no increases last year and that New Orleans has become a more expensive place to live,” Wildes said.