Current and future in-state students will be facing a possibility for a seven percent tuition raise by next fall.
The Miami University board of trustees and audit finance committee met Wednesday to discuss the university's financial matters and passed several motions for recommendations that will be voted on at the meeting of the entire board Sept. 18.
The state of Ohio recently lifted the cap on in-state tuition, cutting state funding and allowing for a 3.5 percent tuition raise this year. Miami, however, chose not to increase tuition for the current academic year.
In the meeting, the committee passed a movement to approve tuition ordinances to recommend that the university maintain the same tuition levels for spring 2010, and then raise in-state tuition by 3.5 percent for the summer session. Another tuition increase of up to 3.5 percent could then be made for fall 2010.
President David Hodge said this raise is still lower than past rates of inflation and lower than the tuition raises of many other schools.
David Creamer, vice president of finance and business services, said the university has made efforts to help students and families by holding off on the increase for a year.
However, Student Trustee Heath Ingram said he felt many Miami students and their families will be upset by the potential tuition raise and may struggle to pay tuition.
Enrollment estimates for the fall semester were also discussed at the meeting.
Provost Jeffrey Herbst said first-year enrollment is believed to be approximately 3,250. This leaves the university with about 250 students less than its original target number of 3,500.
"This has forced us to focus on a long-term trend towards a decrease in yield," Herbst said in reference to the decline in the number of accepted students choosing to enroll.
Herbst said the university "gets excellent data on where declining students are going," and that Ohio State University is drawing the largest number of those students, followed by Ohio University and the University of Cincinnati.
Herbst said in surveys of declining students, the top reason for not attending Miami was finances. The second reason was students' feeling that Miami was simply "not a good fit."
"We're revisting the entire admission process," Hodge said.
Hodge said they want to address both of these reasons for the low yield - which was at 25 percent this year, meaning that three out of four accepted students declined enrollment.
"We will almost certainly entail a higher budget for financial aid," Herbst said.
By increasing the financial aid budget, the university may increase enrollment yield levels.
Financial aid is now more than ever an important factor for many students. This year, the number of first-year students eligible for Pell Grants rose from 9 percent to 14 percent.
Among upperclassmen, more Free Application for Federal Student Aids (FAFSA) were filed and more need was demonstrated this year than in previous years.
The restructuring of the admission process is also an effort to attract high-level students. Committee chairperson Jay Henderson said the goal is to raise enrollment yield rates without lowering Miami's admission standards.
Herbst said the university is looking to improve its ability to map prospective students with the "tremendous amount of data available."
The Office of Admission is looking into the placement of out-of-state admission offices to recruit out-of-state students and plans to use specialists to improve campus tours.
