Annual tuition jumps $235 for undergraduates at YSU

By Harold Gwin

The state budget resulted in the YSU trustees’ changing plans on tuition.

YOUNGSTOWN — Undergraduate students at Youngstown State University will be paying an additional $235 per year for tuition, effective this fall.

The YSU board of trustees had frozen undergraduate tuition at $6,721 annually when they approved a $150.1 million general-fund budget for fiscal 2010 in June.

However, the university found out this week that it will be getting $1.2 million less than it had anticipated in state support for the year, and the situation will be worse in fiscal 2011 when state aid drops an additional $4.9 million, said Thomas Maraffa, special assistant to YSU President David C. Sweet.

The funding reductions are a result of negotiations in Columbus over the $3.2 billion revenue shortfall in the state’s new biennial budget, which resulted in an overall cut of $170 million for higher education.

To offset the revenue drop for this year and 2011, the YSU trustees approved a 3.5 percent increase in undergraduate tuition Tuesday.

All of the state universities had frozen tuition for the last two years in exchange for increases in state funding, and that freeze was to remain in effect again this year with a tuition jump to be limited to 3.5 percent in fiscal 2011.

But the drop in state funding for higher education in the biennial budget breaks that deal, and Ohio’s Chancellor of Higher Education announced Tuesday that the state schools were free to raise tuition as much as 3.5 percent both this year and in 2011.

Maraffa told the trustees that the tuition increase should generate $2.7 million in new revenue, and the bulk of that money will be put into a contingency fund to help offset the larger drop in state support in 2011.

He said the immediate $1.2 million shortfall will be covered out of a $2.1 million contingency fund already set up in YSU’s 2010 budget.

“We’re put in an unfortunate situation,” said Scott Schulick, chairman of the board of trustees, explaining that the state’s action made a tuition increase “inevitable.”

YSU had raised tuition for nine consecutive years before the freeze deal with the state was implemented.

Trustee Harry Meshel cast the lone dissenting vote on the increase, suggesting the university should have taken more steps to reduce spending on its own before going to the students for more money.

Both Maraffa and Provost Ikram Khawaja said the university has put various efficiencies and savings into place over the past year in preparation for tough economic times, including saving $1.1 million by not filling a number of nonfaculty job vacancies and cutting summer-session programs by 10 percent.

In other business, the trustees ratified a new three-year contract with its Association of Professional/Administrative Staff. Meshel was also the lone vote against that contract, saying he thinks the university “went overboard” on the terms of the pact.

The APAS union, which represents various employees such as academic advisers, program coordinators and assistant program directors, has yet to approve the agreement. Members were voting Tuesday night and today.

gwin@vindy.com

The YSU board of trustees has appointed a 22-member search advisory committee to help find a new president of the university by March 12, 2010. David C. Sweet is completing his 10th and final year in that office and will retire in June 2010.

The committee is required to present between three and five candidates to the board no later than Jan. 15, 2010. The trustees also hired the company of Storbeck/Pimental & Associates LLC of Media, Pa., to assist in the search at a fee of $95,000 plus expenses.

Committee members are:

Chairman Scott R. Schulick: Chairman of the YSU board of trustees and vice president-investments, Farmers Trust Co.

Vice-chairman Donald Cagigas: Former YSU trustee, retired chief professional officer of the Youngstown/Mahoning United Way and retired chief executive officer of Bank One.

Dr. Sudershan K. Garg: YSU trustee and physician with the Blood & Cancer Center Inc.

Millicent Counts: YSU trustee and former executive director of the United Methodist Community Center.

Harry Meshel: YSU trustee and former Ohio state senator.

Carole S. Weimer: YSU trustee and a special-education teacher at Liberty High School.

Daniel J. DeMaiolo: YSU student trustee and a senior marketing major.

Germaine Bennett: President of the YSU Alumni Society and retired assistant superintendent for human resources for the Youngstown city schools.

Anthony M. Cafaro Jr.: Vice president of The Cafaro Co. and vice chairman of the Regional Chamber board of directors.

James W. Cossler: Chief executive officer of the Youngstown Business Incubator.

Honorable Diane S.A. Vettori: Mahoning County Court judge.

Zachary Brown: President of YSU Student Government.

C. Reid Schmutz: President of the Youngstown State University Foundation.

Peter J. Kasvinsky: Dean of YSU graduate students and research.

Sunil Ahuja: Acting chairman of the YSU history department and American Council on Education Fellow.

Nancy White: President of the YSU faculty union and professor in the psychology department.

Chester R. Cooper: President of the YSU Academic Senate and professor in the biological sciences department.

William C. Binning: Professor emeritus and interim chairman of the YSU political science department.

Mary I. Slaven: Administrative assistant in the YSU admissions office and YSU residency officer.

Amy L. Cossentino: Assistant director of YSU University Scholars and Honors program.

Philip Hirsch: Retired YSU executive director of administrative services.

Hugh G. Earnhart: History professor emeritus and member of the YSU Retirees Association.

Source: Youngstown State University