ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University trustees today agreed to consider a new "two-tier" approach to assessing and increasing tuition next fall. Officials described the system, which would be the first of its kind in the state, as a fairer means to enhance the quality of the university while responding to state budget cuts.
Rather than imposing an across-the-board increase, tuition costs would be raised differentially for new and currently enrolled students.
Ongoing Ohio resident students would be asked to pay about $6000 per academic year -- or $507 more --in tuition, while incoming Ohio resident students' tuition would be near $6564 per year. Any increases in future years would be added to each student's current tuition level.
In order to assist new students who would be hardest hit by the tuition increases, a new need-based grant program will be implemented. The program will offset more than 70 percent of the additional increased cost for new students from low-income families, said President Robert Glidden.
A two-tier approach, which Glidden described as "bold and extraordinary," will allow the university to continue to enhance its academic programs in difficult times. "We do not want simply to weather the storm caused by the state's budget reductions," Glidden said. "We plan to use targeted cuts in expenditures in combination with these tuition increases to handle our budget deficit and at the same time move Ohio University forward."
"While new students will be asked to pay more, we will be instituting significant improvements in their educational experience during the next few years. This will include the addition of 55 new faculty over four years, improvements in the first-year experience for students and revisions in the core set of classes required of all undergraduate students."
"The Board of Trustees supports this vision for Ohio University and we are determined to reach it," said chairwoman Lee Ong. "We are committed to a strong general studies program, and to ensuring strong student involvement with teaching and learning. You can't do that by making cuts in faculty."
"Ohio University is and will remain an outstanding value for students and their families. We are dedicated to improving our programs and making the university increasingly distinctive. We can't do that by holding back. At the same time, Ohio University is and should always be a place of opportunity. It must remain as affordable as possible for a wide range of promising young people," Glidden said.
"A college degree is a major investment in both time and resources for students and their families. But by keeping tuition costs within a reasonable range for existing students over a set period of time, we keep faith with the individuals who are already here; we honor the implicit contract we already have with them. Likewise, families of students who intend to study here will have a fairly solid sense of what to budget."
In addition to raising tuition, university officials will make budget reductions approaching $6 million through targeted cost-cutting measures. Trustees will be asked to give final approval to the FY 2002 budget at their April meeting.
Trustees also approved the university's request to select an architectural consultant to prepare a proposal for a new student center.
Capital projects such as the proposed University Center, academic buildings or residence hall improvements are not funded by tuition, Glidden noted.
"Talking about buildings while you are making cuts and raising costs might not be a popular thing to do," Glidden said. "But the physical campus, paired with its academic opportunities, makes Ohio University an outstanding place to live and study. The university must live within its means. It also must be prepared to attract, sustain and retain the best and the brightest. Our facilities are an essential part of making that happen."
In other business, trustees reviewed the Annual Financial Statement, the 2000-2001 Financial Report and the Budget Variance Report and approved a proposal allowing the internal audit office to report directly to the chair of the board's Budget, Finance and Physical Plant committee.
The trustees will next meet on April 11 and 12 in Athens.
