ST. PAUL — Here’s a tradeoff University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler is pitching to state lawmakers: Boost aid to the school and tuition for in-state undergraduates won’t go up.

The freeze comes with a hefty price tag. It would cost $42 million over the next two years at a time when the state budget is tight. And it also comes as the university is defending itself against the perception that it is top-heavy with well-paid administrators.

Kaler appeared Friday at the Capitol to argue that the university is aggressively looking to contain costs while also trying to hold down tuition, which now tops $13,000 a year on the Twin Cities campus.

Lawmakers can’t require the university to freeze tuition but Kaler says officials are committed to it if state money comes through.