Thursday, April 23, 2009
Radford proposes 5% tuition hike
If the increases are approved today, tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates will be $6,904
The Roanoke Times | File February
Radford University students play football in front of Moffett Hall. Proposed tuition and fee rates — which call for increases of 6.5 percent for out-of-state undergraduates, 5.6 percent for in-state graduate students and 9.3 percent for out-of-state graduates — will be voted on at today's full board of visitors meeting.
The proposed tuition and fee rates -- which call for increases of 6.5 percent for out-of-state undergraduates, 5.6 percent for in-state graduate students and 9.3 percent for out-of-state graduates -- will be voted on at today's full board meeting.
Tuition alone would increase by 5 percent for in-state undergraduates, with mandatory fees to support things such as debt service, athletics and recreation going up by 6.8 percent.
Discussion at Wednesday's meeting focused on Radford's rates compared with other universities and the long-term effects of holding tuition increases down with federal stimulus money. Federal stimulus funding to universities is expected to be awarded for one more fiscal year at the most. That could create a "cliff" in 2012 that could result in skyrocketing tuition to compensate for the absent federal money and lower tuition increases this year and next.
"That's when the horror story is supposed to happen," Radford President Penelope Kyle said.
State general fund support for Radford will be cut by $7.5 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year, but federal stimulus funding flowing through the state will make up $5.5 million of that. Those funds are designed to hold down tuition for in-state students and to support one-time measures to help universities save on costs and minimize the 2012 funding cliff rather than creating recurring costs.
Tuition rates at Radford are among the lowest of Virginia's four-year public universities for all categories of students -- undergraduates and graduates, in-state and out-of-state. Kyle asked the committee whether the university should eventually consider sacrificing low tuition to achieve long-term strategic goals.
"Do we want to be that low-cost provider?" she asked. "Or do we think that we're to the point ... where we ought to be in the middle of that group of public institutions in the commonwealth of Virginia?"
The committee also discussed the high percentage of Radford students -- 93 percent -- who hail from Virginia.
If the proposed tuition increases pass today, tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates will be $6,904. Out-of-state undergraduates would pay $16,568. If room and board is added those totals become $13,874 and $23,538.
State guidelines require out-of-state students to pay at least 100 percent of the cost to educate them. They pay 113 percent, on average, at Radford.
Board member Mary Ann Hovis said the university should look to ways of attracting out-of-state students to generate more revenue.
"This isn't just a financial issue," she said. "It's a diversity issue."
Radford raised tuition only 4.6 percent last year for in-state undergraduates, qualifying for the state's tuition moderation incentive fund -- a pool of money designed to reward universities that kept tuition low. That fund does not exist this year and several board members bemoaned the fact that Radford's relatively low tuition means percentage increases result in less real revenue. University boards set tuition and fee rates, but state budget writers have said they expect universities to hold tuition increases to 5 percent.
"I'm about to say something politically incorrect," Hovis said. "We have not benefited from following the suggestions coming from Richmond and that's just a fact. We have been good stewards. ... Those people who did not follow those [suggestions] and got a lot of bad press for a short period of time, are in a better position."
