ATLANTA (AP/WAOK) - Students attending any of Georgia’s 25 technical colleges will pay more starting with the spring semester that begins in January.

The board that runs the system voted Thursday to increase tuition to $85 per credit hour, up from $75. That means $1,275 for a full 15-hour course load, up from $1,125.

The board also added a new $50 “institutional fee” per semester for the spring semester and a $50 fee for each online course starting in fall 2013. The system says students will pay an average of $223 in fees starting in the spring.

The moves will push the average total cost of attendance, including books, to about $2,000 per semester.

That’s more than double what qualifying students can receive from HOPE grants. Those awards pay $60.75 per credit hour.