YSU room and board, graduate tuition to rise

By Harold Gwin

Tuition for in-state undergraduates will remain constant for a third year.

YOUNGSTOWN — Undergraduate tuition will remain frozen, but graduate-student tuition and room and board costs will go up for all students at Youngstown State University this fall.

The Finance and Facilities Committee of the university’s Board of Trustees approved the tuition and fees plan Thursday in anticipation of adopting a $149.5 million general fund budget for fiscal 2009-10.

The vote on the budget has been delayed until June 19, at which time the board will formally approve the spending plan as well as the tuition and fee schedules.

Undergraduate in-state tuition will remain at $6,721 for the third consecutive year, part of an agreement with the state to hold down tuition costs in exchange for additional state funding.

YSU received some of that additional funding the past two years, but the state’s biennial budget covering 2009-10 and 2010-11 has yet to be approved in Columbus.

The university is preparing its budget with an anticipated 0.5 percent increase in state funding but could actually face a 1 percent loss in state assistance, officials said.

In-state graduate students will face a 6 percent cost increase, raising the tuition for in-state residents about $524 per year to $9,256. Nonresident graduate students will see similar increases, with their new annual rate at $9,451.

That’s in line with what other state schools are doing in Ohio, said Thomas Maraffa, special assistant to YSU’s president. He produced a chart showing that only three other state schools have lower graduate tuition rates than YSU’s current rate.

YSU has about 1,500 graduate students, and the change is expected to generate $400,000 in new revenue, he said.

There are some other tuition/fee changes forthcoming as well.

Full-time associate-degree students were granted a $248 tuition discount per semester in the past, but that will be eliminated next year.

Juniors and seniors enrolled in the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services will be assessed a new fee of $6.50 per credit hour.

That will be used to defray the costs of buying instructional equipment for the health-care programs in which they are enrolled, said Ikram Khawaja, YSU provost.

The state has supplied funds in the past for that equipment, but the level of state assistance is dropping, he said, adding that he is also considering a similar fee for students in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and the College of Fine and Performing Arts in the near future.

Room and board will rise by more than 4 percent from $7,090 to $7,400 per year, and the surcharge for a single room will rise from $840 to $860 per year.

gwin@vindy.com