University administration has authorized a two percent increase in tuition and fees, along with a four percent increase in room and board, for the 2016-2017 academic year.
“We kept the increase in tuition and fees fairly modest,” said Michael Horan, university treasurer and vice president of business and finance. “It’s right on the edge of what we need to keep moving forward. Some of our peers in Ohio are doing three and four percent increases.”
Seventy six percent of the university’s revenue comes from tuition and fees, and the raise is intended to be equal to the increase in the total cost of business.
“Of the increase in tuition and fees, eighty percent of it goes back into faculty and staff salaries and benefits,” Horan said. “We need to provide good benefits to keep good people, and to provide increases in their pay.”
Of the four percent increase on the room and board side, Horan said that three percent will be going to Aramark for maintenance and upgrades, and the rest will be going to maintenance of the dorms. As part of the increase in meal plan rates, students will also receive an additional fifty dollars in Capital Bucks.
The same increase to both tuition and room and board occurred for the 2015-2016 academic year.
“I think it’s unfair to raise tuition,” said Naima Ilmi, sophomore psychology, social work, and political science triple-major. “Students have worked hard for their scholarships. Maybe it’s okay if you give students more scholarships, but otherwise you’re just putting them in more debt.”
While the tuition increase is intended to be proportional to the cost of business, there is a five-million dollar surplus built into the budget. Part of the surplus goes into regular improvements to buildings and grounds, while the rest goes into a reserve for future building projects.
“We use the building reserve fund for projects like the [Convergent Media Center (CMC)],” Horan said. “The CMC is a sixteen million dollar project, ten million of which came out of the building reserve. The other six we are going to go out and finance.”
The CMC will house several of the university’s academic programs, including music technology, communication, creative writing, professional writing, electronic media and film, studio art, art therapy, and marketing. It will also be the new site of CapTV, WXCU Radio, and the Chimes.
“As a political science major, I feel that we don’t receive the same monetary attention that some of the other programs do, such as business and the conservatory, despite being a significant portion of the student body,” said Blake Hillard, first-year. “For example, with the CMC, I can empathize and say that, ‘that’s cool for you.’ But what use does [political science] have for it?”
The two percent increase in tuition will amount to just over $650 for each student. While this may not seem like a significant increase, similar increases can add up over the four years the average student spends at Capital.
“One thing we are trying to do every year is to diversify our revenue so it is not just student focused,” Horan said. “While it’s not a huge increase, we worry about any increase when students have debt, and how that affects them.”
