Still haunted by the recent memory of double-digit tuition increases, students at Maryland’s public universities and their parents hope Gov. Martin O’Malley fulfills the promise he made Monday to do everything he can to freeze tuition for a third consecutive year.

“We have not undone the damage that was done in the past of pushing college tuition beyond the reach of working families in our state,” O’Malley told a group of sweatshirt-clad students at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

But the governor’s proposal still must face the General Assembly, where Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said he believes colleges should be able to raise tuition.

“While higher education is important, it’s a tough year to set the goal of freezing tuition,” said Lisa Fulton, a spokeswoman for Miller.

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“It’s tough economic times with the projected deficit and the need to cut an additional $250 million from the state budget.”

Using the new $55 million Higher Education Trust Fund, created this winter when the state legislature funneled revenue from corporate income taxes to colleges, O’Malley proposed spending:

» $16.3 million on freezing tuition at the 11 University System of Maryland colleges and Morgan State University.

» $11.5 million to expand student enrollment.

» $1.5 million to narrow the achievement gap between poor and minority students and their wealthier and white peers.

» $18.5 million to help meet the demand for graduates with professional degrees in nursing, engineering, science and math.

O’Malley also proposed spending $202 million on improving the facilities at the public, four-year universities and $81 million on renovations and construction projects at 13 community colleges, including a new Community College of Baltimore County library.

Tuition jumped 40 percent since 2000, making Maryland’s tuition and fees the sixth-highest in the nation for public four-year institutions, according to a 2005 College Board report.

UMBC junior Ryan Riehl welcomed news of the tuition freeze, saying he has to work a part-time job in the college admissions office to pay for books and other expenses that his scholarships don’t cover.

“My scholarship covered everything my freshman year but now falls $300 short,” he said.

USM Chancellor William Kirwan noted that students who started college in the fall of 2005 and graduate in the spring of 2009 will be able to matriculate without ever experiencing a tuition increase.

“I challenge anyone to find another state where the same assertion can be made,” he said.

Tuition and fees

» Bowie State University: $12,826

» Coppin State University: $11,502

» Frostburg State University: $13,567

» Salisbury University: $13,912

» Towson University: $14,670

» University of Baltimore: $6,934

» University of Maryland, Baltimore County: $17,003

» University of Maryland, College Park: $16,468

» University of Maryland, Eastern Shore: $12,238

Source: Maryland Higher Education Commission

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com