The Ohio University Board of Trustees will consider increasing tuition, fees and rates, as well as the approval of nearly $56 million in capital improvement projects during its Jan. 19 meeting.
OU Vice President for Finance and Administration Deborah Shaffer will present the board with an update on the current financial state of the university, as well as budget planning for the next financial year.
The university recommends the board approve plans to extend the OHIO Guarantee — a model that guarantees level-rate tuition, housing, dining and fees to students and their families — to regional campuses.
The plan would include a legislated 6 percent tuition increase during the first year of the transition of the guarantee to “maintain the competitive rate structure of the regional campuses” as compared to nearby two-year institutions, according to a university news release.
OU executives are also set to recommend increases in tuition, fees and rates for students in the incoming fall 2018 cohort. The increase would be allotted for under the Ohio Revised Code, which allows 1.3 percent tuition increases, equal to the sum of the Consumer Price Index 60-month inflation rate.
Additionally, the university will recommend a 3.5 percent increase in residential housing rates on the Athens campus, as well as a 2 percent increase in Athens campus culinary service rates and a new fee — proposed at $6 per credit hour — that would affect incoming Fall Semester students on both the Athens and regional campuses.
Current students enrolled under the OHIO Guarantee would not be affected by any of the proposed increases.
The board will also consider more than a dozen capital projects, which, if approved, would cost the university about $56 million.
The most expensive projects on the board’s agenda are the $31 million renovation of the West Union Street Office Center and the $15.9 million renovation and demolition of various buildings at The Ridges. Additionally, several residence halls would receive restroom, water and roof upgrades.
The OU Board of Trustees will meet in Walter Hall on Jan. 18 and Jan. 19.
