YSU Tuition increase approved; Sweet to seek $1M in aid

The board also renewed the president's contract for three years.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Just before Youngstown State University trustees enacted a tuition increase, President David C. Sweet vowed to seek $1 million in scholarships before the increase takes effect next summer to help students pay for it.
"We'll be out seeking to increase the number of need-based scholarship dollars by $1 million, and we believe that, at least, will be a step in trying to offset this unfortunate need to increase tuition to maintain our quality [of education]," Sweet told the trustees.
Some 82 percent of YSU students receive financial aid, Sweet said.
Under the new tuition schedule enacted Wednesday, full-time, Ohio-resident undergraduate students taking between 12 and 16 credit hours will see their tuition rise 9.5 percent, or $238 per semester, from $2,498 to $2,736.
Part-time tuition will rise 1 percent for those taking three credit hours, 6.9 percent for those taking six credit hours and nine percent for those taking nine credit hours.
The tuition increase is needed in part to offset declining state support for higher education, Sweet said.
YSU's tuition remains lower than that for incoming students at Cleveland State and Kent State universities and the University of Akron, Sweet said.
Other business
Trustees also renewed Sweet's contract as president for three years beginning July 1 under the same terms.
Sweet, who became YSU's president July 1, 2000, earns $203,520 a year.
"Dr. Sweet has done a good job. We're very satisfied with his efforts and what he has achieved," said Joseph S. Nohra, trustee chairman. Sweet has achieved the board's goals in increased enrollment, continued academic excellence and partnerships with the city and its schools, Nohra said.
The board also accepted from Anthony Schiavone the donation of a .84-acre, asphalt parking lot on the west side of Wick Avenue, north of the Madison Avenue Expressway, which will become a landscaped campus gateway area.
It commended the faculty of health professions for achieving full national accreditation for its histotechnician associate degree program -- the only accredited program of its kind in Ohio. Histotechnology is the branch of biology concerned with microscopic study of tissue structure.