Trustees set tuition and fees, grant faculty/staff salary increases

Faced with a $2.2 million decrease in state funding for the coming year, the University Board of Trustees on June 24 approved a 6 percent increase in tuition and fees for the 2005-06 academic year.

At the same time, the trustees approved a 3 percent raise for University employees.

The board also adopted the 2005-06 operating budget for the University, which includes a $243.4 million main-campus educational budget and an $11.3 million budget for BGSU Firelands.

State appropriations make up just 29.45 percent of the revenue in the 2005-06 educational budget, while student fees comprise 66 percent. The remainder is from other revenue sources.

Under BGSU’s two-tier fee structure, continuing students who enrolled at the University before the summer of 2002 and those who enrolled that summer or later pay different instructional rates. Effective fall semester 2005, main-campus students who entered before summer 2002 will pay an additional $232 in tuition per semester, while those who entered in summer 2002 or later will pay an additional $244. The general fee has been decreased slightly (by .6 percent) to keep the overall tuition and fee increase to 6 percent, the cap set by the state of Ohio.

The non-resident fee will remain at the same level, Dr. Christopher Dalton, senior vice president for finance and administration, said, “so that we can be more effective in recruiting out-of-state students.”

Dalton added that BGSU Firelands “is in a much better position” than main campus because the state has not decreased funding for two-year institutions. He added that the Firelands campus’s enrollment has also increased significantly.

Dalton told the trustees the University is continuing to feel “very real pain” in balancing the budget as a result of drops in state funding. He pointed out that $3.2 million in permanent budget reductions are being made to balance the 2005-06 educational budget. This is in addition to the $4 million permanent reduction in personnel costs for 2004-05.

The budget also reflects an increase of $7.8 million, or 18 percent, in funding for student financial aid and a 4.2 percent increase for employee-related expenses, including a 10 percent increase in health care costs. It also includes $500,000 for a contingency reserve to offset unforeseen declines in revenue.

“In a time of significant fee increases as state support is falling, the institution has increased financial aid as a way of ensuring that students continue to have access to higher education," Dalton said.

The outlook for the future, he added, is that “we must continue to be quite strategic and creative about the way we move,” given the uncertainties of the budget.

Following the meeting, President Sidney Ribeau commented that, as the incoming chair of Ohio's Inter-University Council, he will continue to advocate for increased support for higher education. The two main goals will be to increase funding and stabilize tuition, he said.

The trustees granted the 3 percent raise for University employees along with an additional .25 percent pool for merit increases for eligible faculty and staff. Another $443,000 was earmarked for promotions, market adjustments and job reclassifications.

The latter figure was “somewhat larger than in the past,” Dalton commented.

The salary resolution passed by the board stated that while significant reductions in state support will prevent much progress from being made in 2005-06 toward BGSU’s long-term compensation goals concerning raising faculty and staff salaries, the University “still believes its employees should receive an increase.”