It is premature to talk about an increase in tuition at YSU

Youngstown State University President Cynthia Anderson has ordered an 8.5 percent reduction in the base operating budgets of every division to absorb cuts in state funding. Such an order would be deserving of high praise, but for one problem: Anderson isn’t ruling out a rise in tuition.

In fact, Scott Schulick, president of the board of trustees, all but announced that the cost of attending YSU will go up when he said, “It would be foolish not to expect a tuition increase.” He did not say when it would occur.

Why foolish? The economic recession has hit everybody hard, and belt-tightening has become the norm. With a tuition increase this year, coupled with the one last year, students have every reason to expect that they’ll get a break before being hit again.

Full-time Ohio residents are now paying $7,199, up from $6,956 in the 2009-10 academic year; students who qualify for the Western Pennsylvania Advantage are paying $7,400, compared with $7,156; students in the “regional” category are paying $9,892, up from $9,648; while nonregional students are shelling out $12,872, compared with $12,628.

Ohio residents in graduate school pay $9,575, up from $9,252; nonresident graduate tuition is at $9,776, compared with $9,452.

The trustees upped the cost of room and board by $200.

There also are fees, such as those paid by junior and senior students attending the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services to defray the cost of purchasing instructional equipment for health-care programs in which the students are enrolled.

And then there are the parking, activity and laboratory fees students have been paying for some time.

That’s why there isn’t a public expectation that tuition would be going up again so soon.

There’s no argument that Youngstown State, like the other 12 public universities and colleges in Ohio, are taking a big financial hit as a result of a decrease in state funding. But, this reduction was expected as far back as two years ago.

In every editorial we’ve written about YSU’s finances, we’ve cautioned the administration and the board of trustees about long-term spending decisions, such as pay raises across the board and bonuses for some employees, when the revenue stream from the state is so uncertain.

But, our warnings have been largely ignored. Now YSU is in a bind.

We do not fault Dr. Anderson, who took over as president in July, but we do worry that a tuition increase is on her radar screen.

Stakeholders

It would be instructive for the stakeholders — the people who pay to attend the urban, open-admission college — to hear how Anderson arrived at the 8.5 percent figure for cutting operating budgets. Is that the most that can be slashed from each one? Are there some divisions that can afford more than others?

And then there’s the elephant in the room: Employee wages and benefits, which account for a major portion of the overall operating budget.

Are the faculty, staff and administrators being asked to take concessions? Contract negotiations are being held, and we expect that all the unions will be asked to accept a wage freeze.

But, in the midst of a national economic recession, more is demanded from the public sector, which depends on public dollars to operate.

Private-sector workers have been doing more with less for several years and concessions — read: “give backs” — are now standard in the workplace. Before students at YSU are asked to pay more in tuition, we urge the president and the board of trustees to develop a plan for reducing wages and benefits and submit it to all the unions for their consideration.

This is about shared sacrifice.