After four years with no tuition increases, out-of-town parents who enroll their children in Little Compton for the first time this coming school year will pay more than those who currently enroll their children, after the school committee voted 4-1 to increase out-of-town tuition for new students by 3 percent, or $180.

Currently, families who send children to Wilbur & McMahon pay $6,000 per student per year in a program that brought in about $200,000 in revenue this school year. Currently enrolled students will not see an increase.

School committee chairman Travis Auty said the percentage was decided on because committee members asked for a 2.6 percent spending next school year, and the hike closely mirrors that.

Prior to a vote on the increase, committee member Mike Rocha said he favored an $800 increase for new students, and $500 per existing student, as the tuition price hasn’t matched the rising cost of education over the past few years.

“Our expenses keep going up, so why would we keep something at the same rate if our expenses are going up?”

However, chairman Travis Auty defended the 3 percent increase, saying he does not want to put out-of-town parents in a position where they would have to remove their children from the school system.

“I do not want to go to a number that would bring us to this room in a year, saying that we went from 32 to eight” students, Auty said.

Rocha was the only committee member to vote against the 3 percent plan.