Not even community colleges, higher education's low-cost option, are immune from ever-rising prices.

Next week, the Maricopa County Community College District governing board is scheduled to consider a 9 percent tuition increase for next school year. Students would pay $71 per credit hour under the proposal, $6 more than this year.

The increase would be the district's largest this decade, a period in which tuition prices jumped more than 50 percent.

MCCCD did not raise prices at its 10 colleges last school year, providing students a rare reprieve.

"No one, and I think the faculty in particular, likes to see increases in tuition," said Barry Vaughan, incoming president of the district faculty association. "We believe in keeping tuition as low as possible. We don't like to shift that burden onto the students."

But district officials argue that this time the district needs more tuition revenue.

In particular, MCCCD must pay to operate its new facilities, provide additional student scholarships and employee raises, said Debra Thompson, vice chancellor in charge of business services. Also, the district needs to pay for new programs aimed at keeping students in school.

Seven of MCCCD's colleges lost enrollment this school year and the older, more established campuses are dropping fastest, district data shows.

Thompson said the key to stemming that decline is retaining the students already enrolled. Each of the colleges is beginning its own program to better prepare students for college coursework.

Scholarship money is part of that equation, too.

"We know that students always have a need, but especially if we're thinking about a tuition increase we want to provide that kind of support," Thompson said.

If the board approves the tuition increase, Thompson said that could provide an extra $1 million in financial aid for low-income students. MCCCD already awards more than $6 million a year in such scholarships.

Despite that, more and more students within the district are taking on loans to pay for school.

U.S. Department of Education data shows that in 2005, the most recent year for which there is data, 2,926 students from Mesa Community College were repaying federal loans. That's equal to 11 percent of the college's total enrollment, five percentage points higher than just two years earlier.

At Scottsdale Community College, the number of students repaying federal loans almost doubled from 2003 to 2005. And the number of those students defaulting on their loans nearly tripled, the federal data shows.

"The good news, of course, is that we still are cheaper than any of the universities even with the tuition increase that we're looking at," Vaughan said.

Tuition at Arizona's three public universities has doubled over the past six years.

In the fall, Arizona State University will charge freshmen and transfer students $5,659 to enroll full-time. MCCCD will charge $2,130 next year, if the tuition increase passes, for students taking 15 credit hours each semester.

Most of the district's revenue comes from property taxes - a steady cash flow but one that isn't easily increased. Tuition and fees account for about one-third of the money to operate the colleges and are far easier to boost.

This school year, the state provided the district $68 million, a small fraction of the total budget. However, with the state in a billion-dollar shortfall, those dollars are likely to disappear.

"That really only leaves tuition to cover continuing operating costs," Vaughan said.