With all of the cuts in the university funding and increases in expenses, the university is proposing a considerable increase in tuition for next year.
Representatives from the university administration brought the proposal to the Student Government Association on Wednesday night to get students’ ideas about the plan.
President David Schmidly said he wanted to hear what the senators think about the tuition proposal.
Schmidly said he knows education must be affordable but students came here for a quality education and that requires resources.
Schmidly also said he wants to have an open door policy with students and student leaders. He said he wants students to come to him with questions and suggestions about what affects them.
Lee Bird, vice president for student affairs, said “[Budget cutting] is a phenomenon happening around the country.”
According to the Big 12 Tuition and Fees study from the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University are projected to increase tuition about 21 percent. Major universities in Texas are projected to increase tuition about 14 percent and the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University are projected to increase tuition about 8 percent starting in fall 2003.
The proposal brought before the Senate includes projections for a 10, 15 or 20 percent tuition increase. Twenty percent would make the university break even with all the cuts that have been made, Bird said.
A 20 percent increase would not hurt the majority of students much and would not go over what federal financial aid can cover for students with exceptional need, Bird said.
OSU students pay $1522.95 per semester for in-state tuition and fees. A 20 percent hike would boost this number to $1,985.35, according to the proposal based on 15 credit hours per semester.
The proposal also includes six new student fees to cover new or increasing costs within the university.
The new campus security fee of $0.70 per credit hour would pay for a new security package including an escorting service for students walking across campus at night and more lighting around campus.
It would be an entire package, not just a new escorting service, Bird said.
Many people have become concerned because of the off-campus hostility between OSU students and the students of Langston University, she said.
A career services fee of $50 is required of graduating seniors, but the new fee would be $2 per credit hour for all students, not just seniors. The program would also be extended to all students in any class for help with deciding on a major and future profession.
The new student academic services fee would be $25 per semester and cover increasing costs in that area of the different colleges.
A classroom renovations fee would be $7.50 per hour starting with incoming freshman only and applying to every incoming class after that. The fee would cover renovations of buildings sorely in need.
A new library facilities improvement fee is proposed as $3 per credit hour to cover renovations on the Edmon Low Library.
“We should pour money into the library renovation because everyone uses it,” said Sen. Mike Kibbe, representative of the Off-Campus Student Association.
Sen. Sarah Conrad, representative of the College of Arts and Sciences, agreed.
“The library is the center piece of our university,” she said.
The final fee in the proposal is a library electronic resources fee of $3 per credit hour that would cover the subscription to online databases and research programs available to students on the computers at the library.
Lisa Brunton can be reached via e-mail
at lbrunton@ocolly.com
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