Here's all you need to know about the university's guaranteed tuition plan.
Editor’s Note: This is the first of two stories analyzing Ohio University's “guaranteed tuition” plan.
Obtaining a college degree is an expensive prospect for many students and understanding those costs can be a daunting task. To help, Ohio University officials have created a plan for students to budget for their education costs.
What is the “OHIO Guarantee?”
The university’s guaranteed tuition model, dubbed OHIO Guarantee by OU, is set to debut in Fall Semester 2015. The plan guarantees the same tuition rates, room, dining and general fees for 12 consecutive semesters (including summer semesters), for up to 20 credit hours.
Incoming students will be placed into what officials call “cohorts,” or classes of students based on their year of initial enrollment.
The university won’t raise cohorts’ rates for four years regardless of economic, political and enrollment factors. However, OU is legally able to raise the rates — with approval from the Board of Regents and the chancellor, but doing so “defeats this approach,” said Craig Cornell, vice president for enrollment management.
What does this mean for students?
The plan allows students to consider the costs of attending OU for four years. Prices are set for incoming students their first year on campus, despite changes in their room and dining plans. Scholarships will have the same percentage of their bill covered year-after-year.
For example:
A freshman chooses to live in a single. If that student chooses to live in a double his or her next year, he or she would pay the price of the double set the student’s first year on campus.
A freshman chooses a standard meal plan. If that student chooses a flex meal plan for his or her second year on campus, that student would pay the amount set his or her first year on campus.
“(Our plan) is unique in that it’s designed to cover all costs,” said Howard Dewald, associate provost for faculty and academic planning.
The same is true for tuition rates. An incoming freshman will pay the same amount throughout their time at OU, regardless of how much other incoming classes during their time here are paying.
When the new tuition model takes effect next fall, only incoming freshmen — OU’s Class of 2019 — and transfer students to OU’s Athens campus will be eligible for the program.
Students are only guaranteed their original cohort’s prices for four years, or 12 consecutive semesters at the Athens campus. If a student takes longer to graduate, he or she will pay the following cohort’s fixed prices. For example, if a student in the Class of 2019 takes five years to graduate, he or she will pay the fixed prices offered to the cohort of the Class of 2020.
What does this mean for the university?
The guaranteed costs plan, officials have said, puts the budgeting strain on the university rather than on families’ wallets.
The university will have to try and predict what the costs will be so that this plan is feasible. Tuition is one of the university’s largest revenue sources and increasing tuition from cohort to the next cohort is a way OU officials will budget properly, Cornell said.
OU officials can raise tuition by the current state-mandated limit on tuition (2 percent this year), plus the average national rate of inflation (2.0 as of July 2014).
The last time OU’s tuition rate was the same for three consecutive academic years was 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10. The current total annual estimated cost to attend OU is $22,068 for Ohio residents and $31,032 for out-of-state students.
The university could technically abandon the guaranteed tuition plan and readjust a cohort’s fees, but that would require approval from OU’s Board of Trustees and the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents and “defeats this approach,” Cornell said.
Though the plan offers a great deal of stability not currently available to students, it isn’t a plan to alleviate student debt. Under the current tuition model, OU graduates in 2012 left with an average debt of $27,060, according to an OU news release.
Asked for her opinion on the model, Student Senate President Megan Marzec said in an email it “is not, nor will it ever be, a solution to student debt.”
The university could see more state funding as a result of the plan.
With a fixed rate bill though, the university will ultimately have fewer options in increasing revenue during an economic crisis or enrollment decreases.
“The university is taking a risk,” Cornell said.
@Dinaivey
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