The Ohio University Board of Trustees raised in-state undergraduate tuition and fees 6 percent at its meeting Friday.
After months of debate and in what Daniel DeLawder, chair of the Audit, Finance, Facilities and Investment Committee, called a challenging environment with state reductions
the board kept its original decision of a 6 percent increase. The increase will be divided into 5 percent tuition and 1 percent financial aid, assuming the money OU expects from the state budget remains constant, DeLawder said.
The increase will cost undergraduate students $155 more per quarter and net the university $7.9 million. The trustees also agreed to raise the residence and dining hall fees 2 percent, which will cost students $50 more per quarter.
OU President Roderick McDavis said the university saved $1.1 million when it discontinued 17 positions in a reorganization of Housing and Dining Facilities Auxiliaries, a move he said helped keep the fee increase to 2 percent.
At the press conference, McDavis also spoke to the issue of off-campus safety. He responded to a recent house fire at Miami University of Ohio that killed three students and the one-year anniversary of three OU students' deaths in a house fire in Columbus, McDavis said OU is working closer with the Office of Off-Campus Housing and the City of Athens to make sure housing codes are enforced.
The board approved 13 renovation projects on the Athens campus -a total of more than $4.3 million -including $680,000 for renovations to Alden Library and almost $220,000 for proposed renovations of the section of East Union Street called Jefferson Hill.
In an April 6 article in The Post, Athens City Councilwoman Carol Patterson, D-2nd Ward, said the council has tabled discussion on leasing the portion of Union Street to OU pending further legal discussion.
The board passed two resolutions from the Academic Quality Committee that granted 39 faculty fellowship awards and 11 faculty emeritus awards. Honorary degrees were approved for five people, including former Presidents George H. Bush and Bill Clinton for their fund-raising work in response to the December tsunami in Southeast Asia.
Marnette Perry, chair of the Student Life, Human Resources and Athletics Committee, said reports suggesting remedies for high-risk drinking were given at her committee's meeting Thursday.
The committee reviewed OU's strategies to create routine late-night activities for students on the weekends, Perry said. Its initiatives are to expand late-night programming, provide students with incentives to participate in the programs and create better online advertising for the programs.
Two trustees' terms ended with the Friday meeting -M. Lee Ong, who served on the Academic Quality Committee, and Wilfred Konneker, the board's national trustee.
Chairman of the board Bob Walter, whose term as chair ends at the next meeting in June, said the board will recommend two replacements to Gov. Bob Taft by May 16. Walter said the two new trustees will be appointed before the board's June meeting.
Student trustee Dustin Wood's term also ended at the meeting. Five students are in the running to fill the open position, and one will be appointed by Gov. Bob Taft in the coming months. 17
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