YOUNGSTOWN YSU alters tuition rates

YSU will promote the new tuition rates in its push to increase enrollment.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University plans to hold the line on tuition for hundreds of students next fall thanks to a large increase in state funding aimed at making college more affordable.
University officials hope the fee structure attracts new students to campus and begins turning around the university's chronically declining enrollment.
Tuition will go down slightly for freshmen and associate degree students but up for sophomores, juniors and seniors under a plan approved by YSU trustees' budget committee Wednesday afternoon.
The new fees are expected to win full board approval March 16.
Overall, tuition will go up an average of 3 percent. Last year, trustees increased tuition 5 percent. The highest amount allowed by the state is 6 percent.
Funding: The lower tuition rates for freshmen and associate degree students is possible because of a large boost in Access Challenge funding in Gov. Bob Taft's proposed state budget, from $239,000 this year to $1.1 million next year.
"That's a huge increase," John Habat, special assistant to YSU President David Sweet, told trustees.
Access, targeted primarily at the state's community and other two-year colleges, was created by lawmakers to make Ohio higher education more affordable to new students.
YSU officials said increasing the university's share of the Access pie was a top budgetary priority because it allows YSU to better compete with surrounding two-year schools that have been cutting tuition.
The state budget must be approved by the General Assembly and signed by Taft by July 1.
Sweet and trustee Bruce Beeghly, who represented YSU on a commission examining higher education funding, said that changes could be made to the state budget before July 1.
But both said they think Access funds are safe and are likely to remain.
"The Access program is the favored son of all higher education programs right now," Beeghly said.
Tuition freeze: Two years ago, trustees agreed to a two-year tuition freeze for freshmen and sophomores but backed off the promise in the second year and increased tuition instead when Access funding was less than projected.
Trustees told Sweet they wanted to avoid a similar scenario this year.
Although Sweet said the Access funding isn't assured, he said he is "sufficiently confident" YSU will get it.
Sweet said he wanted trustees to approve the new tuition rates now so the university can use them in advertising and promotional materials for the fall semester that begins in August.
Sweet wants YSU to increase enrollment by 5 percent this fall. The number of YSU students has dropped in 10 of the last 11 years and has increased by 5 percent or more only twice in the last 33 years.