Three universities in Ohio raise fall tuition

The Ohio State budget signed by Gov. Ted Strickland allows Ohio universities and colleges the opportunity to increase tuition at a maximum of 3.5 percent after higher education took a $170 million cut.

Officials from three universities in Ohio have chosen to increase their tuition rates while other universities are waiting until the spring to make any changes.

Kent State’s Board of Trustees approved a 3.5 percent increase for the fall 2009 semester in July.

“If we don’t see this $148 increase, what we will see is a decrease in services to students,” said University President Lester Lefton at the Board of Trustees meeting.

Wright State University and Youngstown State University will also enact the 3.5 percent increase this fall.

Steven Sherbet, Wright State University Bursar, said his university increased tuition because the state budget cuts created a shortfall that had to be made up.

“Originally, the contract indicated that they would maintain support for higher education in exchange for not having a tuition increase. When they were unable to keep the funding level at what had been promised, and they had to make a cut on that, then that required universities to rethink their budgets,” Sherbet said. “We still ended up making cuts, but in order to protect academic programs and critical programs for Wright State, we did end up increasing tuition at the 3.5 percent level that was permitted.”

Students at the University of Akron will not see an increase in tuition until spring.

“We already billed our students for the fall semester, and the budget decision was so late in the process, we just felt that it was not a good decision to make at that time,” said Denise Moss, director of student accounts at the University of Akron.

Bowling Green State University, Central State University, Cleveland State University, the University of Cincinnati, Ohio University, the Ohio State University, Shawnee State University and the University of Toledo have all kept the tuition freeze for the fall.

“Cleveland State’s administration and its Board of Trustees decided not to increase tuition rates for the fall 2009 semester in recognition of the added financial burden it would place on our students,” said Timothy Long, director of budget and financial analysis at Cleveland State University, in an e-mail interview.

Long said CSU was also concerned for students who depend on the Ohio College Opportunity Grant scholarship program.

“With qualifying needy students having their OCOG aid reduced, we felt a tuition increase for this segment of our student body would be especially burdensome as well. Even without a tuition increase in the fall, Cleveland State is assisting new, first-time freshmen qualifying for OCOG with financial aid to replace the amount the state has cut,” Long said.

The CSU Board of Trustees, as well as Shawnee State, Ohio University, the University of Toledo and the University of Akron will examine the prospect of raising tuition for spring 2010.

“It will depend on a variety of factors, including how we do in terms of fall 2009 enrollment and whether the funding public universities receive from the state can be maintained at the current level. If the state continues to be challenged with lower tax revenue collections due to the economic recession and is forced to reduce the budget for higher education, the prospect of a spring 2010 tuition increase becomes greater,” Long said.

Contact principal reporter Kristyn Soltis at [email protected].

Correction: An earlier listing of tuition rates contained invalid comparisons of semester, quarterly and yearly tuition rates. The following information compares only yearly tuition rates.

Ohio tuition rates

Below are the in-state and out-of-state tuition rates for full-time students.

•University of Akron

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009, but may face an increase for spring 2010.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $8,612

Out-of-state: $17,861

•Bowling Green State

University

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $9,060

Out-of-state: $16,368

•Central State University

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $5,294

Out-of-state: $11,806

•Cleveland State University

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009, but may face an increase for spring 2010.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $7,920

Out-of State: $10,664

•University of Cincinnati

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $9,399

Out-of-state: $23,922

•Miami University

Will not increase tuition for in-state students for fall semester 2009; however, out-of-state students will face an increase of 3.5 percent fall semester 2009.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $11,887

Out-of-state: $25,771

•Ohio University

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009, but may face an increase for spring 2010.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $8,973

Out-of-state: $17,937

•Shawnee State University

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009, but may face an increase for spring 2010.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $5,832

Out-of-state: $10,176

•Wright State University

Will increase tuition 3.5 percent for fall semester 2009

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $7,533

Out-of-state: $14,595

•Youngstown State University

Will increase tuition 3.5 percent for fall semester 2009

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $6,721

Out-of-state: $12,394

•The Ohio State University

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $8,697

Out-of-state: $21,918

•Kent State University

Will increase tuition 3.5 percent for fall semester 2009

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $8,726

Out-of-state: $16,418

•University of Toledo

Will not increase tuition for fall semester 2009, but will increase tuition 3.5 percent spring 2010.

Current tuition rate:

In-state: $7,926

Out-of-state: $16,738