Ohio University’s Budget Planning Council is recommending a 3.5 percent tuition increase for Athens campus students next school year, which would be the third consecutive increase since the 2010–11 academic 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.
“As we face escalating costs like utilities and health care, we remain committed to controlling student costs while attracting and retaining the highest quality faculty and staff, supporting student engagement and taking on more institutional responsibility to meet the capital needs of our physical infrastructure,” McDavis said in a statement.
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 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 completes all of the investments on its “wish list.”
“Part of the discussion about how we close the gap is … ensuring we’re not putting off a liability that is going to need to be covered next year,” said Chad Mitchell, interim budget director.
Desired investments include safety maintenance projects, funding for instructional equipment, increased campus Internet bandwidth and additional 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.”
BPC is also recommending that all regional campuses adopt the same tuition rate. Currently, the Southern and Eastern campuses have a lower tuition rate than the Chillicothe, Lancaster and Zanesville campuses, and all regional campuses have lower rates than the Athens campus.
“Students moving from different campuses were getting different rates,” Day said.
If OU’s Board of Trustees approves the council’s recommendation, the Southern and Eastern campus rates will match those of the other campuses. BPC is also recommending an additional 1.57 percent tuition increase for regional campuses.
The council also approved recommendations from Residential Housing and Culinary Services for a 3.5 percent housing-fee increase and a 1.5 percent dining-fee increase for next year. Last year, the Board of Trustees approved a 2.5 percent housing-fee increase. Culinary Services did not request a fee increase last year.
If the proposed fee increases are approved by the president and the Board of Trustees, the cost of a traditional double-bed residence hall room with air conditioning would rise from $5,457 to $5,648 per year, and the cost of a traditional 14-meal plan would rise from $4,023 to $4,083 per year.
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