05-06-94 Trustees: Tuition, Pay, Budget TRUSTEES ACT ON BUDGET, TUITION, PAY COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees Friday (5/6) voted to raise the tuition of most students 5 percent, set computer laboratory fees, and adopted budget guidelines for the 1994-95 academic year. The board also approved pay raises for faculty and staff. Tuition The board approved increases in tuition of 5 percent for undergraduate and graduate students and varying levels for professional students. Full-time undergraduate students residing in Ohio will see tuition rise on average by $147 per year from the current $2,940 to $3,087. Tuition for out-of-state undergraduate students will rise from the current $8,871 to $9,315. Graduate students enrolled in the colleges of Optometry and Pharmacy will see instructional fees rise 5 percent and those in the colleges of Dentistry, Law, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine will see larger increases. (See table.) This will be the second straight year that undergraduate tuition has gone up an average of 5 percent. "These are the lowest back-to-back tuition increases since 1986 and 1987," said William J. Shkurti, vice president for finance. Those years, tuition went up 3.8 percent and zero, respectively, for in-state undergraduates. "OSU continues to be a best buy," Shkurti said, citing the university's above-average reputation and below-average costs. This year, Ohio State ranked 10th of the 13 public universities in Ohio with in-state undergraduate tuition costs that are 9 percent below the state average and 15.3 percent below the average among the Big Ten universities. "One of the highest priorities we have in our budget is to maintain and enhance our support for students and student programs," said Richard Sisson, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. "Let me give some examples: it will help provide students with strong academic programs, more summer course offerings, and maintain scholarships for 8,000 students. It also will provide pay raises for 11,000 student workers and protect key student services, such as financial aid, from budget reductions." Sisson said the budget maintains Ohio State's commitment to enhance the quality of its undergraduate and graduate student body. "We have outstanding students here, in whom the people of Ohio should take great pride." Computer Lab Fees Trustees voted to assess a computer laboratory fee on all full-time students in the Fisher College of Business, effective autumn quarter 1994, and to extend a similar fee in the College of Engineering to students majoring in computer and information science in the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The Business fee is intended to address an immediate need for improving instructional computing services. The fee, $95 per quarter for undergraduate students and $120 for graduate students, will be prorated for part-time students at $8 per credit hour for undergraduate majors enrolled for less than 12 credit hours, and at $15 per credit hour for graduate students enrolled for less than eight credit hours. In subsequent years, the full-time computing fee will be limited to 10 percent of the resident undergraduate or graduate tuition, respectively. A similar fee was instituted last spring for the College of Engineering. Trustees extended that fee for another year at $120 per quarter for full-time undergraduate and graduate students. The fee is to be prorated at $10 per credit hour for undergraduate majors enrolled for less than 12 credit hours and at $15 per credit hour for graduate students enrolled for less than eight credit hours. This fall, the fee will be extended to students in the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences who are majoring in computer and information science. However, the fee will be 2/3 of the amount assessed engineering majors. The fees are to be reviewed annually by the Office of Academic Affairs and the Board of Trustees for possible contiuation, elimination, or replacement by a university-wide computing fee. Budget Guidelines Trustees also approved guidelines for completing the university's operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Shkurti said the budget will keep the university on track to achieve financial equilibrium by the end of the next fiscal year, June 30, 1995. Financial equilibrium would mean that university- wide reductions in the General Fund budget would no longer have to be made to fund current operation. The 1994-95 budget will require a reduction in the General Fund budget accounts averaging about 3 percent, the smallest cuts in four years. In previous years, reductions have averaged 4 to 5 percent or more. "Although the fiscal year 1995 budget does not allow us to do everything we would like, it is a significant improvement over what we had to deal with over the last three years," Shkurti said. The budget for 1995, to be adopted by the board at the June 3 meeting, will require current expenditures to be covered by current resources and limits to be placed on multi-year spending commitments. In addition, the university will move away from allocating funds based on expenditures to a system based on income generation. "Right now our expenditures are based on the idea that the more you spend, the more you get. We want to go to the idea that the more you bring into the university, the more you get. Those units which do the most to bring in revenue will benefit." Shkurti said that to reach financial equilibrium enrollment on the Columbus campus must be stabilized at 50,000 students, strict limits must continue on new spending initiatives, and state instructional subsidies must be provided at a level at least equal to the rate of inflation. "We'll have to keep an eye on state and federal mandates and make sure we get no surprises," Shkurti said. "All of these are achievable goals, but we can't take any of it for granted." Preliminary income projections for the General Fund on the Columbus campus for fiscal year 1995 total $556.5 million, up 2.9 percent from the current year's $540.6 million. Although general tuition will rise 5 percent, Ohio State's Columbus campus will only realize an increase of 3.7 percent in income from tuition because enrollment next year is expected to be down slightly. Overall income from tuition, state support and other earnings is expected to rise 2.9 percent. Faculty and Staff Pay Raises Trustees, as part of the budget guidelines, approved pay raises for faculty and staff, who received little additional compensation the past two years. The guidelines call for $600 as a base merit increase for faculty and staff at pay levels up to $30,000. Base merit increases for faculty and staff earning $30,000 or more will equal $300 plus 1 percent of their salary. The total pool of funds available is equal to about 4 percent of payroll. "We want to be able to reward exceptional performance," said Linda Tom, vice president for human resources. "Available funds remaining from the 4 percent pool will be awarded based on exceptional performance. This will give departments and offices greater flexibility to address the need to stay competitive with other universities and employers." Tom noted that the pay raises are the most offered by Ohio State in four years. In 1992, faculty and administrative and professional staff did not receive a pay raise. Last year, they received a 2 percent increase. Classified staff received pay raises of 1.5 percent a year. Many employees saw their raises eaten up by increases in health care premiums. For the coming fiscal year, health insurance coverage for faculty and staff has been restructured to save money and to allow that money to be redirected toward pay raises. The pay raises apply to 4,400 faculty, 10,440 staff and 11,340 special and hourly wage employees. They do not affect about 3,400 staff whose wages are determined under collective bargaining agreements. # Contact: William J. Shkurti, (614) 292-9232. Written by Tom Spring. [Submitted by: GERSTNER (gerstner@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu) Fri, 06 May 1994 16:01:21 -0500 (EST)] All documents are the responsibility of their originator.