If Ohio University’s president and Board of Trustees agree with the Budget Planning Council’s recommendations, next year’s students will see another 1.5 percent tuition increase.
After its last discussion of the year Friday morning, BPC pushed forward a recommendation to increase undergraduate Athens campus student tuition by 1.5 percent to about $10,535 — a $155 jump from this year’s tuition.
OU undergraduate students have seen an annual increase in tuition each year since the 2009-10 academic year, according to the Office of Institutional Research.
The state of Ohio puts a 2 percent cap on annual undergraduate tuition increases for state universities.
OU Budget Director Chad Mitchell said BPC did not want to increase tuition to the cap in order to consider students’ financial situations while addressing the needs of the campus.
“Part of it is showing some indication to students that we’re not just going to raise tuition to the cap, but at the same time there are significant needs across campus,” Mitchell said.
A 1.5 percent tuition increase would allow $3.2 million to be allocated to investments in academic and administrative units, although the exact dispersal has not been decided yet, said John Day, associate provost for academic planning and budget.
But Megan Marzec, the newly elected president of next year’s Student Senate, whose Restart ticket campaigned on fighting any tuition increases, disagreed with Mitchell that the increase addresses students’ financial situations.
“We have experienced the lies and threats from the administration about our options in maintaining the budget,” Marzec said. “No tuition raises are acceptable.”
Marzec, as well as three other OU students, were arrested at last year’s year-end Board of Trustees meeting protesting a proposed tuition increase. Last year’s tuition increase was also 1.5 percent.
Now that BPC has given its tuition recommendation, OU President Roderick McDavis will consider the recommendation, make a decision and announce that decision to the university before graduate student commencement May 2.
In the past, the president has agreed with BPC’s recommendations, Day said. The council includes top administrators, faculty and selected students, including a student trustee and the Student Senate president.
“As far as I can remember, I don’t think (McDavis has) disagreed with a recommendation from BPC before,” Day said.
Additionally, BPC discussed regional campus tuition rates for academic year 2014-15. Each campus will see a different tuition increase but overall, the campuses will see about a .80 percent tuition increase, Day said.
The complete 2014-15 OU budget will be put forward to the trustees for their approval at their meeting June 27.
Not every public university in the state of Ohio has announced its 2014-15 tuition rate, but so far, the University of Cincinnati increased tuition by about two percent from $10,784 to $11,000. Bowling Green State University announced last year it will not increase its tuition rate.
Mitchell said BPC agreed an increase in tuition is necessary with all of the projects OU has underway.
“It was expressed by a number of people on BPC that they see it as their duty to sustain the university for the long term, that those resources are there to make those critical investments that have been identified,” Mitchell said.
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Fast Facts
- If implemented, undergraduate Athens campus tuition will cost about $10,535 in the fall.
- The University of Cincinnati has already announced a planned tuition increase of $216.
- OU’s Budget Planning Council made its tuition recommendation based on the university’s various infrastructure needs.
