2008 Woodie Awards
6 percent tuition increase affects out-of-state students
Laura Houser
Issue date: 8/21/07 Section: Front Page
The good news: Most of Miami University's in-state students will have a brief respite from tuition hikes this year.
The bad news: The cost of being a Miami student isn't going down anytime soon, with a 6 percent tuition increase for both out-of-state and graduate students.
Included in the Ohio biennium budget, Governor Ted Strickland has finally put into motion his plan to boost state support for Ohio colleges and universities by promising them $5.6 billion in exchange for a two-year tuition freeze.
Miami will receive an 8 percent increase in state subsidy-an amount totaling more than $59 million. This was the highest percentage increase among all state universities in Ohio.
For Miami's approximately 10,000 in-state undergraduate students, that freezes their tuition (which is a combination of both instructional and general fees) at last year's rate for the next two years-instead of following the state-wide trend of regular tuition hikes.
Neighboring universities, such as Ohio State University, increased their tuition this year between 3-5 percent for in- and out-of-state students. Ohio University increased tuition between 5-8 percent.
On average, Miami increases its tuition rates 5 percent every year.
For the 2007-08 school year, Ohio students have to pay a maximum of $11,443 in tuition-after the minimum amount from the Ohio Leader and Ohio Resident scholarships have been deducted.
Out-of-state undergrads, as well as all graduate students, were not so lucky.
According to the senior vice president of finance and business services, Richard Norman, the state budget only impacts Ohio students. "Whatever we do with out-of-state (tuition) is up to the institution," Norman said.
Norman also said that graduate students are subsidized by other state subsidies, and were not affected by the tuition freeze.
Tuition for students other than Ohio residents rose 6 percent across the board-an increase Norman calls "sizeable." Set during the June board of trustees meeting, it includes an increase in instructional fees, out-of-state surcharges for graduate students and general fees.
Following the increase, tuition for out-of-state undergrads climbed to just under $24,900 this year.
Rates for both in- and out-of-state graduate students rose as well, with in-state grads paying $11,000 and out-of-state grads paying $24,000 for the academic year.
It's a trend that not likely to end soon.
"I predict that tuition will go up, because our costs go up every year," Norman said.
A budget battle
Arriving at this point, however, was not easy.
Tuition is normally set in the university's budget, a process that occurs during the spring of the proceeding school year.
However, with the tuition of all public Ohio universities tied up in the state's prospective budget, the school year ended with no hint as to a final number.
It wasn't until June 30-after months of negotiations-that Governor Strickland signed the $52.4 billion biennium budget, after being unanimously passed by the state senate.
In it were the details of Strickland's "Higher Education Compact," originally introduced in March, which promised an increase in state support in exchange for the zero percent tuition increase.
The 8 percent increase in state subsidy offset a "major portion" of the revenues Miami lost in tuition, Norman said. However, cuts were still made.
"This year there's a lot of components to the budget, and one of the budgeting balancing steps we have taken is to ask each department to make cuts," Norman said.
The Ohio budget required a $3 million cut, however at 1 percent of total expenditures, and Norman said it was relatively small.
Miami increases Ohio Leader Scholarship
However, the entire process wasn't as simple as slashing a few numbers. In fact, despite the frozen rates, in-state undergraduates still technically saw their tuition jump 6 percent in their bills.
This increase was then offset by an increase in the Ohio Leader Scholarship-bringing in-state tuition back down to last year's figures.
However, with the maximum tuition rate included in every student's bill, all undergraduates saw instructional fees climb from the 2006-07 rate of $20,990 to $22,250.
General fees also jumped from $1,532 to $1,624.
With the changes in both instructional and general fees combined, this year's tuition ended up being $1,352 more than last year's number.
However, all Ohio residents receive both the Ohio Leader Scholarship and Ohio Resident Scholarship, in varying amounts depending on their GPA.
In 2007-08, the minimum amount of money an Ohio resident could receive from these scholarships was increased to $12,432-compared to $11,080 last year.
According to the assistant director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance, Dawn White, an estimated tuition had been set before state representatives passed the Ohio budget.
White said the Office of Student Financial Assistance has to put out an estimate budget in order to determine scholarships and financial for the following year.
"But when we made (our) budget, we didn't know what the (final) tuition was going to be."
Recipients of Ohio Leader Scholarships, where the additional money was funneled, were notified via e-mail this summer of the changes in their award information.
According to the director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance, Chuck Knepfle, the Ohio Leader Scholarship was chosen to be increased because the money is originally Miami's. Ohio Resident, Knepfle said, is state supported.
The additional money usually resulted in a 6 percent increase in a student's scholarship, said Knepfle. This then ensured that Ohio residents' tuition matched last year's number.
"Since the tuition didn't go e sup, we made up the difference by increasing the Ohio Leader Scholarship," White said.
The bad news: The cost of being a Miami student isn't going down anytime soon, with a 6 percent tuition increase for both out-of-state and graduate students.
Included in the Ohio biennium budget, Governor Ted Strickland has finally put into motion his plan to boost state support for Ohio colleges and universities by promising them $5.6 billion in exchange for a two-year tuition freeze.
Miami will receive an 8 percent increase in state subsidy-an amount totaling more than $59 million. This was the highest percentage increase among all state universities in Ohio.
For Miami's approximately 10,000 in-state undergraduate students, that freezes their tuition (which is a combination of both instructional and general fees) at last year's rate for the next two years-instead of following the state-wide trend of regular tuition hikes.
Neighboring universities, such as Ohio State University, increased their tuition this year between 3-5 percent for in- and out-of-state students. Ohio University increased tuition between 5-8 percent.
On average, Miami increases its tuition rates 5 percent every year.
For the 2007-08 school year, Ohio students have to pay a maximum of $11,443 in tuition-after the minimum amount from the Ohio Leader and Ohio Resident scholarships have been deducted.
Out-of-state undergrads, as well as all graduate students, were not so lucky.
According to the senior vice president of finance and business services, Richard Norman, the state budget only impacts Ohio students. "Whatever we do with out-of-state (tuition) is up to the institution," Norman said.
Norman also said that graduate students are subsidized by other state subsidies, and were not affected by the tuition freeze.
Tuition for students other than Ohio residents rose 6 percent across the board-an increase Norman calls "sizeable." Set during the June board of trustees meeting, it includes an increase in instructional fees, out-of-state surcharges for graduate students and general fees.
Following the increase, tuition for out-of-state undergrads climbed to just under $24,900 this year.
Rates for both in- and out-of-state graduate students rose as well, with in-state grads paying $11,000 and out-of-state grads paying $24,000 for the academic year.
It's a trend that not likely to end soon.
"I predict that tuition will go up, because our costs go up every year," Norman said.
A budget battle
Arriving at this point, however, was not easy.
Tuition is normally set in the university's budget, a process that occurs during the spring of the proceeding school year.
However, with the tuition of all public Ohio universities tied up in the state's prospective budget, the school year ended with no hint as to a final number.
It wasn't until June 30-after months of negotiations-that Governor Strickland signed the $52.4 billion biennium budget, after being unanimously passed by the state senate.
In it were the details of Strickland's "Higher Education Compact," originally introduced in March, which promised an increase in state support in exchange for the zero percent tuition increase.
The 8 percent increase in state subsidy offset a "major portion" of the revenues Miami lost in tuition, Norman said. However, cuts were still made.
"This year there's a lot of components to the budget, and one of the budgeting balancing steps we have taken is to ask each department to make cuts," Norman said.
The Ohio budget required a $3 million cut, however at 1 percent of total expenditures, and Norman said it was relatively small.
Miami increases Ohio Leader Scholarship
However, the entire process wasn't as simple as slashing a few numbers. In fact, despite the frozen rates, in-state undergraduates still technically saw their tuition jump 6 percent in their bills.
This increase was then offset by an increase in the Ohio Leader Scholarship-bringing in-state tuition back down to last year's figures.
However, with the maximum tuition rate included in every student's bill, all undergraduates saw instructional fees climb from the 2006-07 rate of $20,990 to $22,250.
General fees also jumped from $1,532 to $1,624.
With the changes in both instructional and general fees combined, this year's tuition ended up being $1,352 more than last year's number.
However, all Ohio residents receive both the Ohio Leader Scholarship and Ohio Resident Scholarship, in varying amounts depending on their GPA.
In 2007-08, the minimum amount of money an Ohio resident could receive from these scholarships was increased to $12,432-compared to $11,080 last year.
According to the assistant director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance, Dawn White, an estimated tuition had been set before state representatives passed the Ohio budget.
White said the Office of Student Financial Assistance has to put out an estimate budget in order to determine scholarships and financial for the following year.
"But when we made (our) budget, we didn't know what the (final) tuition was going to be."
Recipients of Ohio Leader Scholarships, where the additional money was funneled, were notified via e-mail this summer of the changes in their award information.
According to the director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance, Chuck Knepfle, the Ohio Leader Scholarship was chosen to be increased because the money is originally Miami's. Ohio Resident, Knepfle said, is state supported.
The additional money usually resulted in a 6 percent increase in a student's scholarship, said Knepfle. This then ensured that Ohio residents' tuition matched last year's number.
"Since the tuition didn't go e sup, we made up the difference by increasing the Ohio Leader Scholarship," White said.
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