At YSU, tuition freeze is official

Out-of-state grad students will see significant tuition reductions.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State University board of trustees approved a $158 million budget Friday, formalizing its call for no tuition increase..

A big part of the budget is a $2.9 million increase in the state’s appropriation to the university for the 2008 fiscal year, which begins next week.

One of the benefits of the state budget, approved Wednesday and outlined earlier Friday in the same room at Tod Hall by Gov. Ted Strickland, is that tuition for full-time YSU students will remain at $3,360 a semester both years. That keeps YSU at around $1,700 less than Kent State, $1,200 less than the University of Akron and $1,900 less than the state average, university officials said.

The only increases YSU students will see are in certain fees, such as a $12 a semester increase in resident fees and an increase of $51 to nonresident students. Much of this covers costs associated with the new Andrews Recreation & Wellness Center, the budget of which increases 15.7 percent in the new fiscal year to $1.2 million.

New university Trustee Harry Meshel, who took the oath of office at the start of the meeting, cast the lone dissenting vote on the fee increase. The eight other trustees at the meeting, however, voted to approve the increase. Parking permits will also increase between $5 and $10 a semester.

The room and board charges for campus housing will increase by 3.9 percent, from $6,490 to $6,740 per academic year.

Tuition drop for some

One group of students who will see a drop in tuition are graduate students living outside Ohio. For students living in an area that includes 23 counties in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York, there will be a 21 percent decrease in their tuition from $5,629 to $4,464 a semester.

For non-Ohio graduate students living outside that area, the cost will drop 37 percent, from $7,037 to $4,464.

That makes YSU’s out-of-state tuition for graduate students about the same as the in-state tuition at nearby state universities, such as Slippery Rock University, Clarion University, California University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, university officials said.

“YSU offers the best selection and highest quality of graduate programs in the region,” said Peter Kasvinsky, dean of the YSU School of Graduate Studies and Research. “Under this new plan, students living outside of Ohio will have access to those programs at a cost that is only a few dollars more than what in-students pay.”

Out-of-state undergrads will see an increase of 1.1 percent, from $4,656 to $4,707, if they live in the 23-county regional service area. The price will increase 1.6 percent for non-Ohio undergraduates from outside the service area from $6,102 to $6,197.

Community college plans

Meanwhile, the trustees approved a resolution to continue discussing the possibility of creating a community college at the university for another six months.

The two-year community college is designed to provide technical training and associate-degree education. The Mahoning Valley is the only location in the state without a community college, university officials have said.

The trustees also agreed to name a building within the university’s School of Nursing the Betty C. Nohra Student Resource Center in Nohra’s memory. The Cafaro family contributed $100,000 toward the construction of the center and asked that it be named for her.

runyan@vindy.com