OSU seeks tuition increase of 3.3%

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio State University, the state’s largest institution of higher learning, wants to raise tuition by 3.3 percent in the fall, part of a trend of price hikes as the state’s public universities deal with reduced state funding and economic factors.

A proposal that will be put before Ohio State trustees on Friday would boost tuition for in-state undergraduates on the school’s main Columbus campus by $315 in the next academic year, meaning students would pay $9,309, The Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday. Undergraduates at the regional campuses would face a similar increase, to $6,903 per year.

University President E. Gordon Gee said earlier this year that a tuition hike was likely because of state budget cuts, which are expected to cost Ohio State $60 million in operating money in the new state spending plan. Gee defended the planned price increase on Tuesday.

“We remain one of the most economically viable institutions in the country and one of the best economic bargains in the country,” Gee told reporters from The Associated Press and other media outlets at the Ohio Statehouse.

Geoffrey Chatas, Ohio State senior vice president for business and finance, said the school likely would still have the second-lowest cost among Ohio’s six public universities with selective admissions because most of the others also plan to ask students to pay more, the Dispatch reported.

Trustees meet Friday at both Ohio University and Miami University and are expected to vote on proposals to raise tuition at those schools by 3.5 percent, the maximum allowed under the state budget plan. Ohio’s tuition and fees would go up $334 to $9,871, and Miami’s cost would rise by $427 to an annual $12,625.

The University of Cincinnati’s budget for the next school year also calls for a 3.5 percent tuition increase. A resident undergraduate from Ohio would pay $10,419, an increase of $354.