Ohio University President Roderick McDavis released his final budget recommendations today, which include a 3.5 percent tuition and fee increase for students on OU’s Athens campus.
McDavis’ report also includes a 2.5 percent housing increase for Athens-campus students and a 1.5 percent tuition and fee increase for regional-campus students, and estimates the university’s spending to be $751 million for the upcoming year.
This increase, which will need to be approved by OU’s Board of Trustees at the full board meeting next Friday, would bring total tuition and fees to $9,871 next year, costing OU students about $334 more a year.
The tuition and fee increase breaks down to a 3.87 tuition increase and a 1 percent general fee increase, said Becky Watts, McDavis’ chief of staff.
The yearly cost of a standard double would go up from $5,325 to $5,458 next year.
McDavis is recommending a zero percent increase in dining fees for the upcoming year, Watts said.
The 1.5 percent tuition and fee increase at the branch campuses would raise yearly costs for students by $65.93 to $75.51.
Although the university is expecting a $5.3 million loss in state funding for the upcoming year, the Board of Trustees requested the university find ways to fill its budget hole without raising tuition.
It was only after academic and planning units released proposals to reduce spending that the university could consider a tuition and housing increase, said Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit earlier this month.
Rather than applying the additional tuition, fee and housing money to the budget deficit, the university will use the funds for strategic investments, which include additional support for and development of the Bachelor of Nursing program, learning communities, the Office of Disability Services and technology upgrades.
“At this point, the budget has been built on a 3.5 tuition increase (for) these strategic investments that we think are pretty critical to the university,” Benoit said.
One of the main strategic investments will be increased financial aid.
“(McDavis) has proposed (this increase) to the board with very specific strategic investments tied to it,” Watts said. “The number-one strategic priority is scholarships. In proposing this, it actually addresses student need.”
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