2,100 more computers will be installed over the summer, according to Communication Network Services Director Thomas Reid.

Ohio University is the only campus in the state and one of the few nationally to equip dormitory rooms with computers. Last May, university President Robert Glidden announced that computers would be installed in each freshman dormitory room.

The initiative has been "wildly successful," Reid said.

"Watching freshmen use the computers is like watching someone turn a bicycle into a motorcross," Reid observed. Students' use of the technology is "imaginative, creative, and adaptive," he said.

Earlier this year, Ohio University received $350,000 from the National Science Foundation to conduct research in Internet connectivity. It is also one of six members of a state consortium which is testing Internet 2 applications. The widespread and increasingly sophisticated use of technology by students, faculty and administrators makes the university an innovative--and demanding--user of computer technology. Despite the addition of nearly 10,000 high-speed connections since 1996, "bandwidth demand is basically insatiable," Reid said.

About $2.8 million was budgeted to complete the residence halls computer initiative; another $100,000 will fund increased bandwidth.

Trustees approved an eight-percent increase in room and board, which funds the computer initiative, as well as a four-percent increase in apartment rates. More than 6,830 students live in one of the 40 dormitories on campus.

Trustees also supported the university's recommendation to raise tuition and fees by six percent. Along with state funding and other income, tuition and fees account for $116,175,000, or more than half of the Athens Campus General Fund. Funds generated by increased fees will be directed toward academic excellence, technology, research, and increased scholarships. "We're making an investment in quality," Glidden said. "This is our opportunity to invest in the future."

More than $1 million will be directed toward an Academic Excellence Initiative developed by Provost Sharon S. Brehm. Funds will support new faculty positions awarded to colleges competitively on the basis of excellence in undergraduate education or excellence in interdisciplinary research; assist in setting up endowed chairs and professorships; enhance honors education; and create a university-wide undergraduate research program. Scholarship funds were also increased significantly, with a particular focus on minority recruitment.

For the first time, the university this year realized a greater percentage increase in state funding from the Success Challenge program, which rewards institutions for high graduation rates, than from the enrollment-based instructional subsidy. Although it represents only 5.3 percent of total state support, funds awarded to the university from the Ohio Board of Regents’ Success Challenge program jumped from $282,400 in 1999, the year it was created, to $5,580,000 estimated for 2000-01.

"The emphasis on graduation rates is likely to increase even more in the future," Brehm said, "making it clear that retention and graduation of our students must be a major priority for the university." This reflects the university’s stable enrollment, its graduation performance relative to other institutions and the state’s emphasis on performance funding, she added.

Additional budget highlights include:

• A 4.25 percent raise for all employees to address inflation, increased health care costs and a competitive marketplace.
• Students soon will be able to register for classes on-line. University Registrar Bill Jones described the Web-based system as "truly interactive" -- able to guide students into open sections of classes or prerequisites and to instantaneously display a final schedule.
• Freshmen and sophomores attending any of Ohio University's five regional campuses will pay five percent less in tuition due to Access Challenge funding made available through the Ohio Board of Regents. Juniors and seniors, who are not subsidized by the Access Challenge program, will see a three- percent increase in tuition.
• A state-of-the-art Adult Learning Center will be created in Pickerington, east of Columbus. The center will offer undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as certificate programs for business and industry training.
• The College of Fine Arts, whose offerings include the nationally ranked dance program, ceramics, and general excellence, presented a showcase of student projects to trustees. The presentation included dance, theatre, music, and art work in progress by graduate and undergraduate students and faculty.

In the past year, Ohio University has been named one of the best college buys nationwide by America's 100 Best College Buys directory and described as a "hidden treasure" in the Kaplan/Newsweek College Catalog. It was ranked 31st among national public universities by U.S. News and World Report -- sharing a slot with such schools as Michigan State, Indiana and Colorado. It was the only public institution in Ohio named by the John Templeton Foundation a leader in character development.