UT trustees study fee hikes for graduate students

4/20/2005

Two months after they approved an undergraduate tuition hike of 9 percent for this fall, the University of Toledo trustees next week will decide on other tuition and fee increases for other students.

According to an administrative recommendation released yesterday at a trustees' committee meeting, fees in most other areas are scheduled to rise, including graduate programs that are not subject to fee caps put into place by the state legislature. Only one of those tuition hikes, though, is above the governor's suggested 9 percent cap.

The proposed fee changes, subject to board approval Wednesday, include:

●A 6 percent increase in instructional fees for graduate programs, bringing the per-semester tuition cost to $4,415.

●An 8 percent increase for law students starting this summer, raising that cost to $6,215 per semester.

●Nine percent hikes for both the doctorate in pharmacy and the master's of business administration programs, increasing those half-year costs to $4,540 and $4,697, respectively.

●An average of 6 percent more for most residence hall rooms, with a decrease given for the oldest residence halls and fees being the same at the two newest residence halls.

The highest increase would be for an executive MBA program, which is a 15-month program and includes only about 28 students. That fee would jump by 22 percent and cost $38,900 for the entire program.

When responding to a question from a trustee about that cost, Provost Alan Goodridge said business school administrators believe they can support the increase and are looking at ways to recover revenue.

Undergraduate, in-state fees are still slated to rise by 9 percent, though the Ohio House recently called for state-supported universities and colleges to raise tuition by only 6 percent. That issue is pending passage of the state budget this summer.

UT leaders have said they'll readjust their budget should they have to drop their planned tuition hike to 6 percent. In keeping with the governor's proposal, they've already offered nearly $4 million more in financial aid scholarships to students, which is to be funded with the additional 3 percent hike.

In other matters yesterday, President Dan Johnson notified committee members he plans to travel to Beijing in August to renew a "sister university" relationship with Yanshan University. A goal of the trip would be to present a plan for regular annual recruitment of students at that university and the immediate area to UT.

Trustees in the committee on strategic issues and planning endorsed the trip but said they want to know the proposed cost before Mr. Johnson and others depart.

The president also sought the same committee's approval - and received it - for his plan to seek a state line-item appropriation of $300,000 to help finance a study of the implications of a "public-private" status for UT. This is a concept Mr. Johnson unveiled at his state of the university address in January.

Two new proposals for master's programs at UT also were unveiled to trustees yesterday. They include a master's degree in social work and a master of studies in law program. Both still require approval of the full board of trustees, slated for next week, as well as the Ohio Board of Regents.