The Cornell Board of Trustees unanimously approved a $1.5 billion

1998-99 spending plan for the university at its regular meeting May 23. That is 3.7 percent more than the $1.49 billion that is forecast in expenditures this year.

The budget includes a 5.8 percent increase in tuition and fees, a projected 30.2 percent net increase in investment income, an expected 16.8 percent increase in unrestricted gifts and an expected 4 percent decrease in restricted operating gifts from 1997-98.

The board also unanimously approved the following tuition schedule for the statutory colleges for 1998-99:

Undergraduate resident, $9,850, up 5.9 percent.

• Undergraduate nonresident, $18,900, up 5.3 percent.
• Graduate (non-veterinary), $11,500, up 6 percent.
• DVM resident, $14,500 up 3.6 percent.
• DVM (nonresident) $19,600, up 4.3 percent.
• Graduate (veterinary), $12,000, up 4.3 percent.

In January the board approved a tuition increase of 4.3 percent for the endowed colleges, which set tuition at $22,780 for the 1998-99 academic year.

Professional school tuitions and other fees for 1998-99 approved by the trustees are:

• Johnson Graduate School of Management, a 4 percent tuition increase to $24,400.
• Cornell Law School, a 4.3 percent increase to $24,100.
• Graduate School (endowed), a 4.3 percent increase to $22,780.
• Undergraduate student activity fees, as recommended by the Student Assembly (after a final vote on April 23), were increased from $74 to $88.
• Graduate and professional student activity fees, as recommended by the Student Assembly, were increased from $36 to $48.
• Housing rates were increased by 4 percent to an average of $4,534.
• The full-plan dining contract was increased by 6 percent to $3,021.