Trustees adopt new tuition plan

COLUMBUS -- Because of changes in the state budget just before it was adopted, Ohio State students will be paying more this fall, university officials said today (7/11). Lower than expected levels of state funding led Ohio State’s Board of Trustees to adopt a new tuition plan for undergraduates that is different from what the board initially approved in late spring.

The state budget that was passed by the Ohio General Assembly and signed by Gov. Bob Taft late last month supports higher education significantly less than originally had been proposed by the governor in February and the Senate in May. “The state’s share of instruction is lower now than it was four years ago,” Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost, told trustees.

But recognizing the university’s financial needs at the Columbus campus, the state’s final budget provided for greater flexibility in tuition increases than it had in earlier versions.

For all undergraduate students on the Columbus campus, this will mean an increase of 12.9 percent, or between $684 and $756 for the upcoming academic year. For undergraduate students at the regional campuses, tuition will increase 9.9 percent, or $456 for the academic year, before applying the Access Challenge credits the state provides to reduce tuition at campuses offering access to all Ohioans.

“We appreciate the work that the governor and legislature did to minimize reductions to higher education in this difficult financial environment,” Ray said. “However, the late changes in the budget process require the university to rework its budget for the next two fiscal years in a way that will require higher tuition for our students.”

Even with higher tuition levels, Ohio State will continue to be an investment of high value to its student and the citizens of Ohio, said William J. Shkurti, senior vice president for business and finance. Under the new plan, instructional and general fees for new students at the Columbus campus of the state’s flagship university, at just $6,624 a year, will only rank seventh among the state’s 13 public universities. A full-time junior or senior undergraduate student will pay only $5,991 per year, while a continuing underclassman will pay annual tuition of $6,540.

“Although the university had planned to keep tuition increases for continuing students below 10 percent as the Academic Plan is fully implemented, continuing declining levels of state support mean that the university must increase tuition more than it had planned in May, when the board approved a 9 percent hike and a $100 surcharge for new students,” Shkurti said.

Preliminary plans now are for the university to provide half of the additional increase above 9 percent for student financial aid and the other half for technology, including technology in the classroom, online registration and improved support services.

“It is very important to the university that we continue to increase financial aid in order to offset the impact of these tuition increases on lower and lower-middle income students,” Shkurti said. “Likewise, the university will continue to strive to increase operating efficiencies and generate cost savings to improve services to our students.”

Shkurti told the board that the university will recommend fiscal year 2005 tuition increases for both new and continuing students of the full extent permitted by the legislature in order to make up for the continued lack of growth in state support. He also reminded the board that a mandatory recreation fee for students will be implemented to support the new recreation center when it opens in 2005.