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UPDATE: 3.47 percent tuition increase approved at CMU Board of Trustees meeting

By Maria Amante on July 14, 2011 3:42 pm in Budget / 8 comments

 

The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees unanimously approved a 3.47 percent tuition rate increase for in-state undergraduates for the next school year.

This means a cost of $358 per credit hour, $12 more than 2010-11, making the total tuition cost of a standard 30-credit-hour year $10,740.

CMU maintains the fourth-highest tuition statewide.

David Burdette, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, said the university will generate $7 million from this increase, and total revenue from tuition for the fiscal year 2011-2012 will be $204,496,263.

Burdette said the budget strikes a balance between the burden of lost state appropriations, which has been the trend for at least a decade, and the burden of heightened costs from students.

“We do not (anticipate) a growth in state funding,” Burdette said.

The number is the lowest announced thus far by Michigan’s public universities, and is beneath the 7.1 percent cutoff which would result in a 23.3 percent reduction in state funding. Instead, the university will lose 15 percent, or about $12 million in state dollars.

The 2,118 students still covered under the CMU Promise, a program which locked students in to a tuition rate for five years, will not experience the change. All students who joined CMU in 2007-2008 when the Promise was active pay $304 per credit hour, or $9,120 for a 30-credit-hour year.

Before voting to approve the tuition increase, Board of Trustees chairwoman Sarah Opperman voiced some concerns with the proposal.

“We want to make sure we have the university we need and do what we have to for students,” she said. “At some point, you’ve done what you can do and costs are what they are.”

The tuition increases at other universities have ranged from 3.65 percent at Eastern Michigan University to 7 percent at Oakland University; Michigan State and Wayne State University have been accused of technically raising tuition above the 7.1 tuition restraint clause of the state budget.

According to the Detroit News, MSU could lose $18.3 million in public funding and WSU could lose up to $12.8 million.

CMU has intentionally implemented a 2.1 percent reduction in enrollment, said University President George Ross.

“This reduction was planned,” Ross said. “Our applications are up from last year but we got a little overwhelmed last fall and there were some questions about the quality (of the services we were providing).”

Trustee Brian Fannon supported the proposal, but raised concerns before the vote was taken.

“I have a concern with the tuition increase being so low, it looks good on paper,” Fannon said. “But can we really promise no reduction in services, quality and deferred maintenance?”

Ross said “the short answer is yes.”

The tuition increase allows the university to maintain current levels of operation while investing for the future, Burdette said.

“The increase is a modest strategic investment for faculty and students and infastructure,” he said.

The Faculty Association said Tuesday it would accept a pay freeze in its ongoing negotiations with the university if the cost of tuition was similarly maintained.

 

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  • mar

    Screw Gov. Snyder…already took money away from students and now schools are forced to increase tuition.  

  • Michmediaperson

    Hey Mar:

    You can blame Granholm for running 800,000 jobs and tens of millions of tax revenue out of the state which has led to Michigan near bankruptcy.

    You can thank the UAW for sloppy quality control on autos, trucks which have led to Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai, VW, BMW, Mercedes.  Fewer cars built in Michigan means less tax revenue.

    Snyder is working for $1 a year.  Tell me one person on a college campus that is working for $1 a year.  He was hired by a majority of voters to clean-up the mess.

    My fear is Obama and the Democrats have so screwed up this country in Washington, that Michigan may not be fixable.  Look at the deficit.  Obama has raised it 1.2 trillion since GW Bush left office.  The guy and Harry Reid are out-of-control with the country’s credit card.

    Incidentally, you young people are putting yourselves so into debt with out of control spending on the campuses and by the Dems in Washington.

    Hey, it’s your life!

  • Michmediaperson

    Hey Mar:

    You can blame Granholm for running 800,000 jobs and tens of millions of tax revenue out of the state which has led to Michigan near bankruptcy.

    You can thank the UAW for sloppy quality control on autos, trucks which have led to Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai, VW, BMW, Mercedes.  Fewer cars built in Michigan means less tax revenue.

    Snyder is working for $1 a year.  Tell me one person on a college campus that is working for $1 a year.  He was hired by a majority of voters to clean-up the mess.

    My fear is Obama and the Democrats have so screwed up this country in Washington, that Michigan may not be fixable.  Look at the deficit.  Obama has raised it 1.2 trillion since GW Bush left office.  The guy and Harry Reid are out-of-control with the country’s credit card.

    Incidentally, you young people are putting yourselves so into debt with out of control spending on the campuses and by the Dems in Washington.

    Hey, it’s your life!

  • Anonymous

    Quality has nothing to do with the UAW but rather with leadership in the 1950s telling Deming to take a hike, which he did and wound up in Japan.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/atjleff Josh Leffingwell

    This increase in tuition means a lot of drop outs or we will need to hire more Michigan bankruptcy attorneys…
    p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px ‘Courier New’}

  • mar

    We need to take care of “our” people.  The Dr. I work for..who recv’d a BUSINESS TAX CUT..via Snyder,

     just got back from Ireland, bought a brand new condo, in FLA. (not a
    foreclosure ) and I just received a fax from them stating his $15,000 in
    lighting fixtures are ready to be installed.  Oh and he hired a Doctor
    and did NOT HIRE NEW STAFF!!!  MORE money in his pockets via SNYDER tax
    cuts.  You can throw around all your statistics..they all can be
    falsified..I can tell you what I see as a lower income single mom of 2
    college students!  Even people I know that are die-hard Republicans
    think he is an idiot.   I basically work for $1 a day but I take care of
    your grandma and grandpa whom have glaucoma and other eye diseases. 
    (example)  I am pro-union.  Try working in a job where they can fire
    you..at will.  I don’t have to worry because I have worked at the same
    place for 8 years but when we complain, that is what we are told..”BE
    HAPPY YOU HAVE A JOB”.. I am happy but I want my kids to have a better
    life than me.  One is in school for Physical Therapy  and the other
    Geology..The Science/geology major wants to help us save our natural
    resources.  Quit spending money on the military,,quit helping others in
    other countries..help us..All politicians are idiots..but I would take a
    woman over a man anyday..lets get Debbie Stabenow to run for Governor
    cuz this guy is a goner.  Did you realize he sold his company to”
    CHINA”?  Hell, he took away the earned income credit I get which I used
    to help pay my home taxes.  I have worked for over 39 years.  And I have
    never been so broke in my life. Thats all I am saying..his plan is not
    working..he needs to see what businesses are hiring..follow up on them.

    FIRE UP CHIPS!!!!!!!!!  Karma is what I believe in so I will keep shuffling along and do what I can to help Americans.

  • Alum

    Late Spring/Early this summer CMU’s financial status was ranked higher than most Universities in the State…If that was the case, why is it now in dire straits?

  • Alum

    Late Spring/Early this summer CMU’s financial status was ranked higher than most Universities in the State…If that was the case, why is it now in dire straits?