YSU cues undergrad surcharge drop

Photo

YSU President David C. Sweet

By Harold Gwin

If approved, those living on the Pennsylvania side of the border might benefit initially.

YOUNGSTOWN — Some undergraduate students from outside Ohio could be in line for a substantial tuition break at Youngstown State University.

In-state students are paying $6,720 a year in tuition, the lowest of Ohio’s 11 comprehensive public universities, but those coming to YSU from outside Ohio are hit with a larger bill.

They pay what is called a “nonresident tuition surcharge” that amounts to $2,692 on top of the $6,720 annual figure for those living in YSU’s “regional service area” and $5,672 additional for those living outside the service area.

The regional service area includes counties in Western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and upstate New York.

The YSU Board of Trustees’ Finance and Facilities Committee is being asked to consider eliminating that surcharge, at least in part of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Thomas Maraffa, special assistant to the president, said that the trustees equalized graduate student tuition for out-of-state students in 2007. The surcharge had been $127 per credit hour for those living in the regional service area and $244 per credit hour for all others outside that area. They are all now surcharged just $8.34 per credit hour.

The university had about 1,100 graduate students last year, and enrollment has jumped by 12 percent this year, Maraffa told the committee.

The administration is suggesting that the trustees do the same thing with undergraduate tuition. The growth in enrollment could more than offset any revenue lost by eliminating the surcharge, Maraffa said.

Mercer and Lawrence counties accounted for 543 of YSU’s current student body of some 13,500 last year, and that number would be expected to grow, he said, noting that it would take 143 new full-time students to offset the surcharge loss.

Getting some sort of equalization of undergraduate tuition across the Pennsylvania line has been a goal of Dr. David C. Sweet ever since he became YSU’s president in 2000.

Ohio has tuition reciprocity with the other states around its borders, but Pennsylvania has so far been unwilling to participate, he said.

If YSU eliminates the surcharge, the university would petition the state of Ohio to subsidize the out-of-state students just as it now subsidizes in-state students. Sweet said he is already in discussions with the state about setting up a pilot program along those lines.

YSU has a total of 1,154 students from outside Ohio. Pennsylvania residents account for a total of 813, and 341 come from the rest of the United States and abroad.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Scott Schulick, trustee chairman, suggesting the surcharge elimination be considered for Pennsylvania counties bordering Ohio. He asked the administration to come up with projections on the budgetary impact of various possible scenarios.

gwin@vindy.com