Will YSU trustees choose to increase tuition or cut costs?

It is time for the board of trustees of Youngstown State University to look for another way of balancing the YSU budget.
Nine straight years, the trustees have been faced with a shortfall, and they've responded the same way: with a tuition increase.
Thursday, the trustees' Internal Affairs Committee will mull over proposals by the administration that would result in a tuition increase of 4 percent, 5 percent or 6 percent. The committee's recommendation will then go to the full board of trustees at its Dec. 14 meeting for action.
We'd like to see the trustees look at the 4, 5 and 6 percent proposals and answer: None of the above.
Still lowest
Dr. David Sweet, YSU president, points out that even with a 6 percent increase, YSU will still have the lowest tuition of all the state's comprehensive universities. That's good. And he points out that YSU and its foundation provide scholarships and grants to a higher percentage of incoming freshmen than other schools. Also good. And that on average, a YSU student's out-of pocket cost is about 45 percent of the full tuition, which means that for every student receiving a full ride, another student is paying full price. And that's good too, to the extent that it encourages incoming YSU students to get good grades in high school and to pursue scholarship opportunities.
Dr. Sweet notes that the university made progress in the last round of negotiations by an agreement that union workers will share some of the premium costs for health care. But the co-pays are minuscule -- a worker making $40,000 will pay $600 toward a health care plan that is already costing the university $13,000 a year.
And Dr. Sweet points out that the university is anticipating a 20 percent increase in its energy costs. Of course the students or the parents who are paying tuition are facing the same increases in energy costs. Apparently they'll be expected to absorb their own cost increases and the university's.
The biggest expense
But even though the cost of gasoline, steam heat and electricity being used by the university is considerable, its primary expense is for personnel. It is there that the board of trustees has been irresponsible in awarding increases to its administrators and agreeing to contracts with its union employees that it cannot afford.
As we wrote Sept. 2, after the university settled strikes with its teaching and support staff: "The unspoken truth is that the wage and fringe benefit agreements that were reached in an effort to avoid a delay in opening the semester come at an economic price that the university is not in a position to afford."
We also wrote: "Where does the administration intend to find the money to pay the additional cost it has assumed for the next three years?
"We don't know, but we do know this: Not one penny should come from the pockets of the students or their parents.
"This should have been the time that the university stood up and said, 'no.' Every time one of the union negotiators started talking about what was 'fair' for the professors or the support staff, the university should have responded by asking what was fair to the students."
Now the trustees are faced with the consequences of not saying "no" three months ago.
Time of change
But things have changed in just three months. The Mahoning Valley faces the effects of a severe re-entrenchment by its primary industry: auto and auto-parts manufacturing. General Motors employees are looking at carrying more of their company's health care costs, while Delphi Packard employees face demands for drastic cuts in their wages and benefits.
Youngstown State University cannot operate as if it is in a vacuum.
In the fall of 2001, a student entering YSU paid an annual tuition of $4.468. A student enrolled this year pays $6,333, an increase of 41 percent.
Back in 2001, a basic Chevrolet Cavalier built at the Lordstown plant was being advertised at a GMS sale price of $9,929. Last Sunday, a basic Lordstown-built Cobalt was being advertised at $12,244. That's an increase of 23 percent.
Is the analogy perfect? No, because the economics of building a car and running a university are different. But should YSU's tuition increase at a rate nearly twice as much as the cost of a car? Only the board of trustees can answer that question. At the very least, the trustees should ask the question.
An observation in passing: one of the ways GM has held down the cost of its products is by having fewer workers making Cobalts than there were making Cavaliers.