When students return to Northeastern in the fall, they will be using the same parking spaces, but at a higher cost.

With the recently approved 2005-06 budget, day parking will rise from $230 to $260 per semester, and from $590 to $640 for day and overnight parking per semester starting next fall, said Sam Solomon, assistant treasurer and director of the Budget Office.

Annually, the price will rise from $700 to $780 for a day pass, and from $1,780 to $1,920 for a full calendar year of day and overnight parking, Solomon said.

With tuition set to rise over 6 percent, students said an increase in parking fees may be too much to ask.

“I have a car because of co-op, otherwise I wouldn’t park here,” said Michelle Mclelan, a sophomore economics major. “It’s expensive … by the time I’m done with co-op, I’ve spent half [the money] I make on commuting.”

Solomon said the price for parking tends to rise every year because the university loses between $3 million and $4 million annually on parking. The loss, he said, is mainly from debt accumulated from building parking garages on campus. While the debt doesn’t rise, Northeastern must still keep working to pay off the debt, Solomon said. He said raising parking prices keeps those who use parking paying the debt, instead of having it come out of Northeastern tuition.

“It costs more money per space than it costs for the