Faced with the loss of $20.2 million in state aid, it is no surprise that the University of Toledo plans to increase tuition and some fees. But it did come as a surprise that the proposed 2012 budget would be slightly larger than this year. And the decision by university trustees to talk about a raise for UT President Lloyd Jacobs was mystifying.

If the proposed budget is approved, in-state tuition at UT would increase by 3.5 percent, or $297. Graduate, medical school, pharmacy, and law school students also would see their tuitions rise. Parents and students who pay their own college expenses won't be happy, but most will figure out a way to come up with the dough.

But tuition and fee increases aren't enough to offset the university's lost state revenue, so UT also will lay off dozens of nonfaculty employees and eliminate about half the number of retired, part-time, and visiting professors it hires. Existing faculty will be asked to increase the number and size of the classes they teach.

Times are tough so everyone suffers, right? Perhaps not.

When the UT Board of Trustees met this week for a first reading of the proposed budget, it also voted to extend Dr. Jacob's contract, which currently runs until November 2013, for three more years. Board chairman C. William Fall said the extension was necessary to reward Dr. Jacobs for his good work and ensure stability at the university.

But the trustees didn't stop there. Instead, as the board considered inevitable parent, student, faculty, and staff sacrifices, it told Mr. Fall to begin negotiating a pay hike for Dr. Jacobs.

Dr. Jacobs, who is paid a base salary of $392,700 a year, has made it abundantly clear that if the trustees offer him a raise, he will turn it down. That is the correct choice in these austere times.

But even the offer of a raise would send a message that would be widely misunderstood. Parents and students who are cashing in their change jars to come up with another $297 would not understand why someone who's paid nearly $400,000, not counting a free house, a car, benefits, and other perks, needs a raise. Faculty who will be required to teach more and larger classes might, with justice, feel unappreciated. And it would add insult to the injury felt by adjunct faculty and other employees who lost their jobs not because their work was inferior, but because of budget constraints.

The question is not whether Dr. Jacobs deserves a raise. Rather, it is how even a well-deserved raise at this time would be perceived by others. Just contemplating such a course suggests UT's trustees don't really understand how hard the recession has been for many people.

If the trustees believe they must extend Dr. Jacobs' contract, fine. But talk about a pay raise flies in the face of the concept of shared sacrifice and should be left until the local economic picture has gotten a lot brighter.

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