Trustees: Ohio State Adopts Interim Budget, Considers Student Fees

OHIO STATE ADOPTS INTERIM BUDGET, CONSIDERS STUDENT FEES

     COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees 
on Thursday (6/6) adopted an interim budget to permit 
expenditures and salary payments to continue past the 
beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1.

     The measure will be in effect until President E. Gordon 
Gee presents the administration's recommendation for the 
1996-97 Current Funds Budget for consideration at the July 
12 meeting.

     William J. Shkurti, vice president for finance, shared 
with the board the administration's budget recommendations 
for fees and charges for the 1996-97 fiscal year and plans 
for reserving 1 percent of a 6 percent increase in tuition 
to fund improvements to student services.

     Trustees also renewed a contract for student health 
insurance and approved a contract to renovate recreation 
centers on the Columbus campus.

Student fees to increase an average of 4.1 percent

     Pending budget approval, the cost for an Ohio resident 
undergraduate student to attend Ohio State this autumn and 
live in university housing will increase $369 per year, or 
4.1 percent.

     Most of that increase is reflected in tuition, which 
will increase 6 percent or $195 for a total of $3,468 per 
year.  Trustees approved the tuition increase earlier this 
year.

     Room and board will increase 2.3 percent or $105.  
According to Shkurti, a typical two-person room on South 
Campus with 10 meals a week will cost an undergraduate 
student $1,543.  A single room for a graduate student with 
10 meals a week will be $1,528.  The price of rooms 
elsewhere on campus will vary from those figures.

     Students will spend on average $30 more for textbooks 
and supplies, $33 more for health insurance, and $5 more for 
parking and bus passes.  A ticket to a football game will 
cost $13, or $5 more than last autumn, while the price of a 
basketball ticket will remain at $7.  (See the attached 
tables on tuition and student fees.)

     Quarterly computer fees will be $85 for undergraduate 
business students and $110 for undergraduate engineering 
students.  Computer fees for graduate students in those 
fields will be $120.

     "We are reducing the undergraduate fees $5 to offset 
the portion of the undergraduate tuition increase that is 
earmarked for instructional computing support," said Ed Ray, 
senior vice provost and chief information officer.  The 
decrease reflects a commitment to reduce differences in 
computing costs across the university as overall support for 
instructional technology services increases.

     Undergraduate and graduate students in computer and 
information sciences will pay $73 and $80 respectively.  
Other students are not assessed computer fees.

     Parking will be $80 for students, $118 for staff and 
$222 for faculty.  Students opting to park on West Campus 
will pay a reduced rate, $37.

     The price of a football ticket for faculty and staff 
will be $22 while a basketball ticket will cost $15.  
Memberships at the university's golf course will be $240 for 
students and $880 for faculty and staff and green fees will 
be $10 and $16, respectively.

     Patients at University Hospitals and the James Cancer 
Hospital and Research Institute will pay about the same 
amount for hospital-provided services as before.

     "There may be some shifting up and down on some fees, 
but in the aggregate, the cost for room and board, lab fees 
and so on will not increase," Shkurti said.

Student health insurance premiums to rise 6 percent 

     Trustees renewed the student health insurance contract 
with Central Benefits Mutual Insurance Co. for the 1996-97 
academic year with rate increases of 6 percent to 6.2 
percent.  The plan is fully funded by student premiums.  It 
will be available on an optional basis to all registered 
students.  The plan maintains existing benefits and adds 
several improvements, including:

     -- Adding the newly created OSU Urgent Care Clinic to 
the preferred provider network.

     -- Expanding the contraceptive prescriptions benefit at 
Student Health Services.

     -- Adding seven days of coverage prior to the beginning 
of a school term for new enrollees.

     Quarterly rates will be $188 for student coverage; $513 
for student and spouse; $557 for student and children; and 
$831 for student, spouse and children.

Student Affairs Committee discusses tuition set-aside

     The Student Affairs Committee discussed proposed uses 
for the 1 percent tuition set-aside with Vice President 
William Shkurti.  After some considerable discussion of the 
need to direct the funds to programs that directly affect 
students, it was decided to seek further information and 
bring the topic back for final recommendations at the July 
meeting.

Reallocation could fund basic renovation of Ohio Union
     University officials are proposing to reallocate some 
existing funds to finance basic renovations of the 45-year-
old Ohio Union.

     The funding includes $10 million that will become 
available when the university pays off a coal-fired boiler 
in fiscal year 1999, Shkurti said.  The money will be 
supplemented with funds from the Office of Student Affairs.

     The basic renovations will only address health and 
safety upgrades, handicapped access problems and replacement 
of the worn-out heating, ventilating and air-conditioning 
system.

     The Office of Student Affairs will provide up to an 
additional $4.5 million to renovate the food-service areas 
and to renovate and upgrade the appearance of student areas, 
including painting and carpet, Shkurti said.  That money 
will come from Ohio Union revenues and Housing, Food 
Services and Events Centers funds, he said.

     The funding plan does not provide for any expansion in  
space at the Union, he said, but reaffirms the university's 
commitment to improve student facilities without raising 
fees.

     A student referendum to fund renovation and expansion 
of the Union with a student fee was decisively rejected last 
year.

Contracts approved for recreation center improvements

     Trustees approved a contract for $954,900 with 
Williamson Builders of Plain City to renovate the three 
Jesse Owens Recreation Centers on the Columbus campus.

     The project includes removing and replacing all rotting 
and mildewed exterior wood, staining and varnishing the 
exteriors, adding safety perimeter lighting, and modifying 
or replacing the exterior doors.  The $1.12 million total 
project is expected to be completed by January.

Ohio State capital funds exceed $100 million

     Shkurti reported that the university will receive more 
than $100 million from the recently-passed state budget 
bill.

     Funds were included for renovations at all campuses, 
for the Max M. Fisher College of Business, a food science 
and technology building, a life sciences research building, 
and the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture.  Funds 
also will be used to plan a physical sciences building, the 
renovation of Hagerty Hall and replacement of Sisson Hall on 
the Columbus campus.  Also funded were a conference center, 
water plant, equipment and renovations at the Ohio 
Agricultural Research and Development Center at Wooster.

                             #

Contact:  William J. Shkurti, (614) 292-9232; Edward Ray, 
(614) 292-5881; David Williams II, vice president for 
student affairs, (614) 292-9334; Jill Morelli, assistant 
vice president and university architect, (614) 292-4458.
Written by Tom Spring, David Bhaerman, and Jeanette Drake.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Thu, 6 Jun 1996 16:23:00 -0400]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.