RICHMOND —
The steady pace of rising college costs is unsustainable, Eastern Kentucky University student regent Caleb Armbrust said Tuesday as he reluctantly voted to approve the university’s $233.4 million budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
In April, as student regents traditionally do, Armbrust voted against the 5-percent increase, the board approved then.
Only six regents were present for Tuesday’s meeting, the minimum needed for passage, Armbrust noted, or he may have voted against the budget that also reflects a 5-percent increase in dormitory fees and a 3.75 percent increase in meal plans.
Tuition for Model Laboratory School students will rise 1.5 percent for kindergarten students and 1.3 percent for students in grades 1-12. Tuition for nursery students will remain unchanged.
The university budget, that will be nearly 7 percent larger than the previous year’s, also includes a 2-percent pay raise for faculty and staff.
At $6,960, EKU’s annual tuition is the third highest of the state’s regional universities, with Western Kentucky the highest at $7,940 and Kentucky State the lowest at $6,530, Deborah Newsom, EKU vice president for finance noted in her budget outline.
Tuition at the state’s two research universities is more than $9,000.
Armbrust cited a 2007 report by state Auditor Crit Luallen that showed state college costs had risen 128 percent in the previous eight years.
Luallen said then that rising tuition costs could prevent the state from reaching the goal of the number of Kentuckians with a college degree, equaling the national average by 2020.
Newsom and EKU President Doug Whitlock said they agreed with Armbrust that the tuition trend could not continue without adverse effects on both the state and the university.
Students have been bearing the brunt of declining state funding for higher education, Newsom said, because tuition costs have risen largely in response to state funding cuts. State funding for the coming academic year will drop 1 percent, nearly $730,000, her report showed.
Without going into details, Whitlock said the university would have to development a “more entrepreneurial” approach to its financing to keep tuition from almost automatic increases.
An example of that is the growing income that EKU is receiving from online professional courses it offers in nursing, as well as in justice and safety programs, Newsom said.
Setting tuition rates in April for a school term that begins in August also gives short notice to families and well as institutional planners, Whitlock and Newsom agreed.
In the past, tuition rates were effective for two years, Whitlock said, but that was before the state legislature began meeting in annual sessions.
The university’s private donations and investments have risen, Dusty McCoy, chair of the EKU Foundation Board, told the regent via teleconference.
The EKU endowment has grown about $3 million to $48 million, in what McCoy called a validation of the board’s investment strategy. McCoy said overall gifts to the university are up about 30 percent, even as donor confidence remains “cautious.” The number of donors was up 2 percent, with the number of $1,000-donors up 15 percent.
Whitlock said the university remains “optimistic” about its chances of landing a presidential debate in 2012. Two weeks ago, the debate selection committee visited Richmond about two weeks ago and was very complimentary, he said.
The committee found no deficiencies in EKU’s facilities or planning that would prevent its selection, he said.
Eastern is one of 12 sites under consideration for three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate. A decision is expected in November.
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.
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