6-5-98 TRUSTEES APPROVE TUITION AND PARKING PLANS COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees on Friday (6/5) took another step toward improving the university's academic standing by approving a $73-per-quarter increase in resident undergraduate tuition. Trustees approved a master plan to improve parking on the Columbus campus and authorized the university to move forward on two construction projects. Trustees set 1998-99 tuition levels Trustees accepted a plan to increase general and instructional fees for in-state undergraduate students by $73 a quarter or $219 a year, or 6 percent. An undergraduate student from Ohio will pay $3,879 annually in tuition next year. The overall cost for resident undergraduates to attend school full-time and live in university housing will increase $401, to $10,329 a year, an increase of just 4 percent or less than $2 a day, said William J. Shkurti, vice president for finance. This includes a 2.8 percent increase for room and board ($132) and a 5 percent increase for textbooks and supplies ($33) (See table below). At this meeting, trustees approved the first 4 percent of the tuition increase. State law requires a second vote for increases greater than 4 percent, so the board will vote on the additional 2 percent in July to achieve the full 6 percent. This is the first time in three years that the university has increased fees for resident undergraduates up to the maximum allowed by state law. Ohio State has as a goal to improve its academic ranking, but the university has significantly less financial resources per student to work with than its comparable institutions, Shkurti told trustees. Ohio State's tuition and fees are significantly below the averages of comparable institutions and the other public universities in Ohio, Shkurti said. Benchmark institutions are the nine campuses against which the university measures itself. The campuses are highly ranked academically and comparable to Ohio State in mission, size and configuration. They are Pennsylvania State University and the universities of Minnesota, Washington, Texas, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona, Wisconsin and California, Los Angeles. In revenue per full-time equivalent student -- which adjusts for part-time and full-time students -- Ohio State ranks 23 percent, or $6,400, below the average of the nine institutions, with revenue of $21,953. The University of Michigan has the highest revenue, at $37,118, and the average is $28,349. "Much of the reason the university trails the average," Shkurti said, "is that it trails the others in state appropriations," where the $7,375 per student is 15.1 percent, or $1,111, below the benchmark mean. Compounding the problem is that the university has to absorb a $1.5 million loss in state funding for next year, and with an Ohio court ruling on primary and secondary school funding still to come, state appropriations for the future are uncertain, Shkurti said. Annual resident undergraduate tuition and fees at Ohio State are $364 per student, or 9.1 percent, below the average of the benchmark institutions, Shkurti said. Resident undergraduates at Ohio State pay $3,687. The average tuition is $4,051 and the high is $6,253 at the University of Michigan. While resident undergraduate tuition is relatively low, Shkurti said, it is relatively high for nonresident graduate and professional students, ranking third highest among the benchmark institutions. In addition, Ohio State's annual resident undergraduate tuition is eighth among the 13 public universities in Ohio -- $283 or 7.2 percent below the state average of $3,943, Shkurti said. Miami, Kent State, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Ohio University, Toledo and Wright State all have higher tuition than Ohio State. And Ohio State's academic reputation, based on the U.S. News and World Report of America's best colleges, is the highest of the state's public universities, ranking well above Miami, Ohio University, Cincinnati and Kent State. "Ohio State is an excellent value for Ohio taxpayers, but is not as well funded as its competitors, lacking the resources to fully match or beat our competition in critical areas such as services to our students," Shkurti said. "Our students expect and deserve the same or better level of service as students elsewhere. This combination of increased student fees and state support will allow the university to make significant improvements in the quality of services to students during the next academic year." Additional funding will be used to improve the student experience in several priority areas: technology, disability services, student information system, retention, student leadership, academic advising and credit transfers. Other recommended improvements will increase scholarships and financial aid, reduce the student-faculty ratio, enhance library acquisitions, reduce the number of closed courses and increase wages for student workers. Nonresident undergraduate fees will increase $561 per year, to $11,088. Resident graduate student fees will increase $86 per quarter, or $258 per year, to $5,445. Nonresident graduate fees will increase $654 per year to $13,731. Other graduate and professional fees and the out-of-state surcharge will increase by 5 percent, except in the colleges of Business and Law (9.5 percent), Dentistry, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine (7 percent) and Medicine (6 percent). At the regional campuses, funding of the access challenge in the state budget allowed tuition increases to be held to just 3 percent next year, Shkurti said. Full-time undergraduate students at Ohio State's Lima, Mansfield, Marion and Newark campuses will pay $1,176 per quarter or $3,528 per year for tuition and fees. Trustees approve plan for parking with rate increases Trustees gave their approval to a consulting firm's master plan for traffic and parking, along with its recommendations for parking fee increases (See tables below). The fee increases would be used to fund additional campus bus service, improve maintenance of buses and garages, make safety improvements and develop plans for a parking garage in the northern section of the academic core area. Ultimately, the plan recommends two new garages, with a total 3,000 additional spaces. In the academic core area, students would benefit from the additional allocation of 1,000 spaces, and visitors would benefit from 950 designated spaces. There would be 550 new A permit spaces and 650 new B permit spaces, but those users also would benefit from the reduced visitor demand. Expanded bus service will facilitate movement on campus, with a circulator route in the core academic area for students and to make work-related intracampus travel easier for faculty and staff. The core circulator route also will have the added benefit of reducing vehicular movement between north and south campus. Other transit improvements would provide more direct bus service from west campus to south campus, and from the Jerome Schottenstein Center to the academic core. The plan calls for increases of $4.75 per month to $24 for an A permit, $3.17 per month for a B permit and $1.33 per month for a C student permit. There would be a decrease in the short-term hourly rate for visitors to the campus, but a slight increase in long-term hourly parking fees to increase turnover of parking spaces. Rates for patients in the medical center area will be looked at separately. Students would pay $99 a year to park in the central campus area, but only $24 a year to park in the remote lots on west campus and take a bus to the central campus. Rates for the west campus lots for students, faculty and staff will be fixed at 25 percent of the rate for central campus, which represents decreases of about a third for students and more than 50 percent for faculty and staff. The plan recommends that fees for faculty, staff and students continue to increase for the duration of the five-year plan, but trustees would have to approve each hike after reviewing proposals for the use of the revenue. At its height after five years, the most a permit-holder would pay is $1.80 a day, or $39 a month. The consultants, Sasaki Associates Inc. of Boston, conducted numerous public forums earlier this year, and sought the input of faculty, staff and students. Preliminary recommendations had called for fee increases to be phased in over a three-year period, but the university decided to propose a five-year implementation to ameliorate the impact on users. Trustees hire designers, seek construction bids Trustees authorized the university to hire architects and engineers and seek construction bids for projects at Rhodes and Blankenship halls. University Hospitals will pay the $1.2 million cost to renovate space on the third floor of Rhodes Hall to house the laboratory robotics system. Renovations at Blankenship Hall will create space for the university offices of finance, controller, accounting, accounts payable, financial systems, financial training, equipment inventory, indirect costs, internal audit, commencement and official events, and Wexner Security. The $5 million cost will come from central university funds. Miscellaneous business In other business, trustees: -- Heard a budget report from William J. Shkurti, vice president for finance, about the status of the university's operating budget for the third quarter. Quarterly budget reports are required by board policy. Shkurti told trustees that spring quarter enrollment was up 10 students from original projections, or within 0.02 percent; and the Asian financial crisis has meant a loss of 50 students, compared with a projected loss of 230. Shkurti also said that the Columbus campus has received its first money for meeting new statewide performance standards, $336,000 that recognizes efforts to graduate at-risk students. -- Passed a resolution that allows the university to continue making expenditures, including payroll, at previous levels from the June 30 end of this fiscal year until the adoption of the operating budget for Fiscal Year 1998-99, expected at the July 10 board meeting. -- Authorized the expenditure of $1.1 million for the university's continued participation in the OhioHealth Alliance, a Medicare managed care program. -- Renewed easements for utilities at Don Scott Field, Molly Caren Agricultural Center and the Marion campus. -- Approved 215 contracts totaling $13.3 million for research projects funded in April. # Contact: William J. Shkurti, vice president for finance, 614-292-9232 Sarah Blouch, director of transportation and parking, 614-292-9800 Written by Dave Bhaerman, University Communications, 614-292-8422. TABLES Summary of Typical Undergraduate Student Fees Columbus campus 1997-98 1998-99 Dollar Percent Change Change RESIDENT FEES Tuition $3,660 $3,879 $219 6.0% Room & board 4,797 4,929 132 2.8% Textbooks/supplies 662 695 33 5.0% Health Insurance 573 561 (12) -2.1% Parking & Bus Pass 83 99 16 19.3% COTA Pass 27 27 0 0.0% Football tickets 70 75 5 7.1% Basketball tickets 56 64 8 14.3% TOTAL $9,928 $10,329 $401 4.0% Comparison to Ohio Benchmarks Academic reputation* University Annual tuition** 37 Ohio State $3,660 65 Miami $5,512 84 Ohio University $4,275 116 Cincinnati $4,359 148 Kent State $4,460 * Academic reputation ranking is based on U.S. News and World Report, America's Best Colleges Exclusive Ranking, 1997 ** Annual tuition is based on Fall 1997 tuition and fees for resident undergraduate students. Source: Ohio Board of Regents, "Fall Survey of Student Charges," 1997. PARKING -- Proposed Annual Ohio State Fee Increases Permit Current FY98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 A Central $231 $288 $345 $396 $432 $474 A West $156 $72 $87 $99 $108 $120 B Central $122 $150 $180 $207 $225 $249 B Garage $217 $267 $321 $366 $402 $438 B West $84 $39 $45 $51 $57 $62 C Central $83 $99 $120 $138 $150 $165 C Garage $217 $267 $321 $366 $402 $438 C West $37 $24 $30 $33 $39 $42 Comparisons with Downtown garages Location and Monthly Rate Statehouse, Broad & High: $145 City Center, Town & Third: $82.50 Allright, 55 E. Long: $90 Capital Plaza, 50 E. Young: $80 Republic Parking, 100 N. Front: $115 Tower Parking, 170 Marconi: $110 LeVeque, 40 N. Front: $125 Huntington Center, 37 W. Broad: $130 OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: $24