Ohio University's Budget Planning Council on Friday afternoon recommended increasing room and board next year - in addition to the slated 3.5 percent tuition hike.
If approved by President Roderick McDavis and the Board of Trustees, room rates will increase 5 percent and board will increase 3 percent. Both undergraduates on the council, Student Senate President Robert Leary and Student Trustee Chauncey Jackson, voted against the proposal.
University officials estimate the increases will cost each student living in a standard double with air conditioning and a 20 meal plan an extra $384 next year ($128 a quarter).
The room and board increases would come in addition to another 3.5 percent tuition increase, an assumption that was built into next year's proposed budget.
An incoming freshman in Fall 2009 paid $2,456 a quarter in tuition, compared to next year's freshman class, which will cough up $2,648 a quarter.
We should be maintaining some semblance of accessibility
Leary said.
We need to make an effort to keep college affordable he said. We keep seeing numbers about how much more affordable we are than other universities but I'm not convinced. Maybe it's just that every university is becoming less affordable.
The 16-member council does not make budget decisions, but offers proposals to McDavis. Pam Benoit, the executive vice president and provost; and Mike Angelini, the interim senior vice president for Finance and Administration, lead the influential group.
The media and the public are barred from council meetings, and members are discouraged from discussing what is said at the closed meetings.
Although Leary said he knew about the potential increases prior to the meeting, the presentation on Friday was the first time the council had discussed the increases.
In making its recommendation today
the Budget Planning Council tried to strike a balance between maintaining affordability for students and the need to make essential improvements in our residence and dining halls
Benoit and Angelini said Friday in a joint statement to The Post. A majority of committee members believe that even with a $128 increase in room and board fees per quarter
the university will maintain its current level of affordability in comparison to other public institutions in the state.
Last July, OU's Board of Trustees - at the recommendation of the council and McDavis - increased tuition 3.5 percent beginning this quarter. Then-Student Senate President Michael Adeyanju was the only council member to vote against the increase.
The increase was a quick fix to remedy the budget hole that was left when OU received $2 million less in state funding than was expected.
In December, the council recommended OU increase tuition again next fall, asking students to absorb another 3.5 percent tuition increase.
The recommended increases in tuition, room and board come as OU works to shave $13.75 million from it's $684 million budget next year.
Although the council is led by his top two administrators, McDavis has occasionally gone against its recommendations. Last winter, Faculty Senate successfully lobbied to squash a council-proposed increase in faculty health care premiums.
Last February, the council recommended a health care plan aimed to save OU $3 million that included an increase in employee premiums. Two weeks later, Faculty Senate passed a resolution unanimously rejecting the proposal.
McDavis compromised - going through with the council recommendations to increase co-pays and co-insurance limits and requiring employees to buy generic brand prescriptions, but leaving premium rates untouched.
(The council) is a recommending body that the president
when making his final budget recommendation to the Board of Trustees
takes into account along with all other input that he receives from the university community
said Becky Watts, McDavis' chief of staff.
Leary said he will bring news of the potential increases, as well as his dissatisfaction with them, to Student Senate, but was unsure of whether there would be a resolution addressing the increases.
Students can share their feedback through Student Senate and communication with the president in open office hours
letters or e-mails
Watts said. Students are very creative in ways they can make their concerns known.
McDavis has said previously that he plans to announce his budget recommendations prior to the April meeting of the Board of Trustees.
The Board of Trustees is the final arbiter
