Officials to decide on spring tuition increase

by Colleen Schmidt
Staff Writer

Ohio University’s Board of Trustees will meet tomorrow to discuss proposals for increasing next year’s tuition, including an option to raise student tuition for next quarter.

“(A Spring Quarter increase would be) in order to make a lesser increase next fall, but that is not the option we will recommend,” OU President Robert Glidden responded in an e-mail message.

Several Ohio schools, including Kent State University and the University of Cincinnati, already have raised tuition mid-year in response to the state budget cut to higher education.

The OU board voted to increase tuition eight percent during the summer, before the budget cut occurred.

And proposals for next year are higher than OU administrators would prefer, Glidden said.

“All are steeper than I would like, but we’re trying to be as reasonable and considerate of students as we can, considering the state’s budget situation,” he responded.

Board members also will vote on a resolution allowing OU administrators to hire an architectural firm for the development of the new university center, said Gary North, OU vice president for administration.

“We don’t have funding identified or approved just yet,” he said. “To keep this on track, we have to continue planning.”

One of the main focuses of the meeting will be how the university will fund the center with the tightening of the state budget, said Michael Sostarich, OU vice president for student affairs. The center’s estimated cost is $50 million.

But Dick Siemer, OU vice president for finance and treasurer, said the center is high on the list of projects to be funded.

“The university center is probably the most important project we have on the table to do,” he said. “I think the university will do well and the state will put a priority on education.”

If the resolution is passed, interviews will be held for the position Thursday and Friday of this week, he said. A consultant should be hired by next week.

The consultants will spend one year to 18 months planning the layout of the center before construction begins, Sostarich said. The actual construction will take about two years.

Board members also will review financial and budget reports.

OU met its budget last year, Siemer said.

“The university manages very well,” he said. “We’re not making more money, we’re just being more careful in how we spend it.”

During the last three years, savings for OU colleges have grown from $6 million to $17 million, he said.

Board members also will vote on allowing the OU Internal Audit Office to report to the board’s budget committee instead of to Siemer.

“The reason for the change is that for us to remain objective, it is important that we not be influenced by any of those auditing units,” said Tina Abdella, OU director of the Internal Audit Office.