Board approves 9 percent tuition increase

COLUMBUS -- Ohio State’s Board of Trustees has given its approval to a tuition plan designed to provide the university with the financial flexibility to deal with an uncertain state budget picture and minimize impact on the university’s current students while continuing to make progress on the Academic Plan. Trustees approved the tuition plan at their regular meeting on Friday (5/2).

The plan calls for a 9 percent increase in tuition for continuing students and an additional $100 per quarter charge for students who are new to the university. That increase will result in three levels of tuition. Tuition for students who enrolled at the Columbus campus before the current academic year will increase $156 per quarter, and fees for students who enrolled this year will increase $170 per quarter. A third level of tuition for all new undergraduates includes the additional $100 per quarter surcharge above the tier-two fees beginning summer quarter.

The tuition plan is the same as was recommended by Gov. Bob Taft in his executive budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year and approved by the Ohio House of Representatives last month. The Ohio Senate is currently working on its version of the state budget, and uncertainty about final funding levels for higher education required the university to plan based on the most current information. Administrators point out that the plan could be modified if state support for higher education is either increased or decreased.

“Our tuition policy is as fair as possible to our current undergraduate students while placing a greater responsibility on incoming students,” Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost, told trustees. “Our tuition proposal will allow the university to maintain its commitment to academic quality -- even during the current recession -- which is critical to our students as well as to Ohio’s longer-term economic vitality and competitiveness.”

Discussions about next year’s budget also will include a focus on financial aid, where plans are to earmark 25 percent of the additional $100 new student increase, “so that students who meet academic requirements but qualify for financial aid will still be able to attend Ohio State,” Ray said.

“The other high priority for use of the increased resources will be to preserve and improve the quality of the student experience both inside and outside the classroom,” he said. “The phased-in nature of the additional tuition to new students allows us to maintain progress on our academic goals, albeit at a somewhat slower pace than we had hoped.”

With the 9 percent tuition increase, a junior or senior undergraduate student from Ohio will pay $5,658 annually, while an incoming student will pay, including the surcharge, $6,474 annually -- still one of the lowest tuition levels among the university’s benchmark peers and below the average of tuitions at the state’s 13 public colleges and universities expected for next year.
Tuition for current non-resident undergraduates at the Columbus campus will increase 6 percent, an additional $188, per quarter, for a total of $15,645 per year. Incoming undergraduates from outside Ohio will pay $16,461 in tuition and general fees next year.

Tuition at the regional campuses will increase 6 percent to $4,800 for full-time undergraduates and to $4,782 at the Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster. Regional campus fees are still subject to change depending on the level of support the legislature provides for those campuses. Decisions about tuition for graduate and professional students will be made later as part of the regular 2003-04 budget process.