Tuition at YSU to rise 5.75%

The budget includes a 3 percent pay increase for nonunion administrators.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN --Youngstown State University will operate on a $135 million general fund budget in fiscal 2007, a 3.2 percent ($4,140,000) spending increase that will be covered primarily by a 5.75 percent tuition increase.
The YSU Board of Trustees approved both the budget and the tuition increase Friday.
It's the ninth consecutive tuition increase at YSU in as many years.
Full-time, in-state students will see an annual tuition bill of $6,697, up $364. Regional students living within a 100-mile radius of campus will pay $9,321, and other nonresidents will pay $12,204.
Despite the increases, YSU still has the lowest tuition among the 11 largest state colleges and universities in Ohio, said Dr. David C. Sweet, YSU president. It's $1,300 below the average for those schools, he said.
YSU is the only one of those schools to approve an increase that is below the state-imposed cap of 6 percent or $500, whichever is lower, he said.
The approximately 1,000 students living on campus will also see a 3.3 percent increase in room and board, an additional $210 a year for a total of $6,490.
The budget is also predicated on YSU getting just over $900,000 in supplemental state aid from a pool of $30 million already set aside for higher education in the state.
Sweet said the state is expected to announce the dispersal of those funds as early as Monday.
Total state aid is expected to reach nearly $40.1 million, according to the budget.
Sweet said the new budget reflects a 3 percent wage increase for about 150 nonunion administrative personnel, from vice presidents to deans and department managers.
A dollar cost for those increases wasn't immediately available.
Total charges
The tuition increase and nonresident tuition surcharge will generate an estimated $3.6 million revenue increase next year, based on a projected enrollment of 12,913 students in the fall term. That would be just a 0.7 percent increase over last fall's enrollment which was down 2.2 percent from the previous year.
The 12,913 students (both full- and part-time) translate into a full-time equivalent (FTE) attendance rate of 10,220. Full time is a credit load of 15 hours per semester.
The 10,220 is a five-year attendance average for YSU and the budget is based on that number, said Beth Kushner, interim director of budget planning and resource analysis. Anything over that amount will increase revenues by about $7,500 per FTE.
Kushner said the new budget reflects a $1 million re-allocation of funds as a result of the university's divisions imposing mandated spending cuts. That money is being put into utilities and increased scholarships, she said.
The budget shows $3.85 million set aside for scholarship aid, an increase of nearly $700,000.
Sweet said the average student pays only 46 percent of the "sticker price" to attend YSU. Scholarships and various other forms of aid make up the rest, and the university is continually increasing its scholarship assistance, he said.
gwin@vindy.com