Tuition rise on agenda

A proposed 10 percent increase is on the fast track for YSU trustee board consideration later this month.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University students should prepare to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for another tuition increase, this one amounting to $500 a year.
YSU President David C. Sweet announced Tuesday that he will ask the university's trustee board later this month to raise tuition by 10 percent, with the increase to take effect in the summer. That would raise tuition from $4,996 to $5,496 a year.
The increase will be discussed Thursday morning at a meeting of the trustees' finance and facilities committee in the Humphrey Room of YSU's Kilcawley Center. That meeting is expected to begin about 9 a.m., immediately after the the trustees' internal affairs committee at 8 a.m.
The full board of trustees will consider the proposed increase when it meets at 3 p.m. Dec. 18 in Tod Hall. The board and committee meetings are open to the public.
Financial aid
In a presentation to YSU students and faculty, Sweet said he wanted the trustees to set next school year's tuition this month to enable the university to issue its financial-aid packages to prospective students earlier.
"The undersung asset of this institution is the financial aid, and particularly the scholarships that we award to students," Sweet said. Some 80 percent of YSU students get financial aid from the university, and the university will seek to increase aid to offset the impact of the tuition increase, he said.
YSU raised tuition this fall by 8.9 percent -- the highest single increase in 10 years -- after increases of 5.1 percent last fall and 5.5 percent last spring. Tuition is rising as the state shifts more of the responsibility for funding higher education from itself to the students, Sweet explained.
YSU's current annual tuition ranges from $365 to $2,600 below the state's 10 other four-year public universities, YSU administrators have said.
With projected expenses of $119.5 million and revenues of $111.4 million in the 2004 fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2003, the university would face an $8.1 million shortfall with no tuition increase, Sweet said.
The proposed 10 percent increase still leaves a $2.4 million shortfall, which Sweet said would be made up by other revenue or by cost cuts, or both.
Staying competitive
To be competitive with other universities, YSU must have sufficient funding to maintain and improve quality programs, Sweet said. Recent research presented to the administration shows quality programs and faculty are the top priority for prospective YSU students and their parents.
"I believe firmly that the students are making decisions about what institution to attend for their higher education based on the quality of the programs that they receive at that institution," Sweet said.
"They know at the end of that degree is a payoff -- a return on the investment that they made as well as that the state made in terms of their lifetime earnings," he added.
Bachelor's degree recipients have lifetime earnings expectancies of $1 million more than high school graduates, Sweet said.
milliken@vindy.com