Tuition drop for W. Pa. is likely

By Harold Gwin

The university is still contemplating a general tuition increase next fall.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University trustees are expected to approve a tuition change designed to increase undergraduate student enrollment from eight Western Pennsylvania counties.

The plan would eliminate the out-of-state tuition surcharge those non-Ohio residents must pay to attend YSU.

In-state undergraduates pay $6,720 a year in tuition, and Western Pennsylvania residents living along the Ohio border pay a “nonresident tuition surcharge” of $2,692 on top of the $6,720 tuition rate.

The plan presented by the administration calls for the surcharge to be dropped completely in the targeted eight-county region. Those students would then pay the in-state rate plus $100, under the proposal.

YSU President David C. Sweet said the $6,720 tuition fee may not hold next fall.

The university is anticipating a general tuition increase somewhere between 3.6 percent and 6 percent but doesn’t have a firm figure yet, he said.

Much depends on what the state does in terms of supporting higher education, he said, noting that Ohio could come up with a deal as it did two years ago, offering increased subsidy in exchange for no in-state tuition increases for two years. The universities are now in that second year of a freeze.

Dropping the surcharge would amount to an immediate loss of nearly $1.7 million in fees paid by some 630 students already enrolled from the target area, said Thomas Maraffa, special assistant to the president said.

He told the trustee’s Finance and Facilities Committee that it would take the equivalent of an additional 168 full-time students to cover the loss.

However, that loss could be reduced if the state of Ohio can be persuaded to subsidize the out-of-state-students from the target area, just as it subsidizes in-state undergraduates, he said. He didn’t have a firm figure on how much that might be.

Sweet said Ohio does subsidize students from other states surrounding Ohio because those states have tuition reciprocity agreements with Ohio. Pennsylvania doesn’t at this time, he said.

Board member Carol Weimer asked if the university had a marketing plan in place to make the public aware of the tuition break.

It does, Maraffa said, adding that approval by the trustees in December would allow that effort to move forward quickly.

The more time YSU has to market the plan, the quicker the student response will be, Sweet said.

H.S. Wang, committee chairman, said the consensus of members appeared to be that the plan should proceed.

“I think it’s worth a try,” said Trustee John Pogue.

gwin@vindy.com