Ohio University’s Budget Planning Council is recommending a 3.5 percent tuition increase for Athens campus students next year.
The recommendation will go to OU President Roderick McDavis, who will then decide whether to pass it on to OU’s Board of Trustees for approval at the April 20 meeting. The increase would be used to cover certain investments on a “wish list” as well as rising health care costs and faculty raises.
The current tuition rate for a full-time Athens campus undergraduate is $9,870 per year. With a 3.5 percent increase, that rate would jump $345 to $10,215.
Even with the possible 3.5 percent tuition increase, BPC members are still projecting a $5 million budget gap for next year if the university completed all of the investments on its “wish list.” Desired investments include safety maintenance projects, funding for instructional equipment, increasing campus Internet bandwidth and adding more class sections.
“We’ll have to depend on that (tuition) increase for so many things, and we still have a problem to close that $5 million gap,” said John Day, associate provost for academic budget and planning. “It’s not budget cuts as in previous years; it’s going to be taking the wish list and saying you can’t do all of the things you wanted to do. We’ll have to make some tough choices come spring.”
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