Western Governors University will not increase tuition in 2010

Western Governors University will not increase tuition in 2010

In an attempt to help mitigate expenses for those struggling to recover from the economic recession, many colleges and universities have announced that they will not implement tuition increases for the coming school year.

To keep up the growing trend, authorities with Western Governors University (WGU), an accredited online education provider, have announced that the school will not augment their rates on competency-based undergraduate courses for the remainder of 2010. In fact, general tuition has only increased by $200 over the last four years.

"Providing access to a challenging education that's affordable is a primary element of our mission at WGU," said Patrick Partridge, a vice president at the school.

The university also recently announced that its online business, education, information technology and healthcare colleges have each grown by approximately 30 percent over the last year.

Nearly one in four U.S. students take at least some college courses online, up from one in 10 in 2002, Reuters reports. The online education sector grew by 17 percent in 2008 and had been growing at about 20 percent in previous years.

By Mark Danson