University of Toledo to freeze tuition, offer free room and board to transfer students
The University of Toledo will freeze tuition costs beginning next fall and offer free room and board for transfer students in the spring 2013 semester.
The tuition freeze, announced Friday via Twitter and the University of Toledo webpage, is a way of cutting financial obligations and stress for students.
Lawrence Burns, vice president for external affairs at UT and a Central Michigan University alum, said the university is in the midst of ongoing discussions for the budget and decided this was an important promise to keep for students.
“Looking at the budget, we wanted to be true to our word to make the University of Toledo affordable,” he said.
The university is still working on the specifics for making up the lost revenue from tuition and room and board fees, a total of about $36 million, Burns said. They wanted to make the announcement as early in the year as possible, though to help inform students in their collegiate and financial decisions.
“Each department — administrative or academic — is looking at ways to cut back to make sure we can (make up lost revenue),” he said.
Though the tuition freeze will impact all UT students, Burns said the free room and board for transfer students was particularly important as well.
“(Transfer students) often choose community college for financial reasons. If we can make that next step easier, we want to do that,” he said.
Burns said this was important for everyone at UT, as it allowed an avenue for continued professional and personal development that can only be gained at a university.
“There’s a national debate going on. People are asking, ‘Is a college education still worth it?’ We believe very much so that it is,” he said.
