Tuition for Next Year
Well, the summer is hurrying along. I can’t wait for the heat to be gone and for our students to be back on campus—those, at least, who are not already here for summer school. This blog will focus on our tuition for next year.
Because Tennessee’s tax revenues are significantly lower than expected, the state has had to make significant reductions in its expenses. These reductions include state funding for higher education. For Austin Peay State University in particular, state funding for the coming year will be roughly $6,000,000 less than last year. If we were to try to make up this loss with an increase in tuition, we would need an increase of more than twenty percent. We have no intention of doing that to our students! Instead, Austin Peay curtailed many of our normal expenses and will rely on anticipated enrollment growth and federal stimulus funds to keep our need for new tuition revenues as low as possible.
This past week, the Board of Regents voted to make modest increases in tuition for the coming year. As you know, last year the Board decided to begin moving toward tuition rates that correct the disparity between part-time and full-time students. Previously, part-time students have paid the full hourly cost of each course they took. Full-time students, on the other hand, paid only the cost of about 11.4 hours—additional hours were taken at no charge. Because providing these additional hours does, in fact, cost money, the full tuition being paid by part-time students has partially subsidized the reduced tuition being paid by full-time students. The Board of Regents thought we should begin correcting this inequity. For the coming year, there will be a 1.06% across the board tuition increase that will affect both part-time and full-time students (each hour will cost $2 more than last year). In addition, full-time students will pay the full hourly cost of their first 12 hours. (As I mentioned above, they have previously paid for about the equivalent of 11.4 hours.) Finally, although full-time students taking more than 12 hours will pay for these additional hours, the cost will be deeply discounted: hours above 12 will cost only $10 per hour.
One of the odd things about our current financial situation is that, while our state funding is being significantly reduced this year and for the foreseeable future, we will have a significant amount of federal stimulus money for the next two years. We are using some of this money to fill the hole in our budget left by the loss of state funding. Most of the federal stimulus money, though, has to be used on projects that will eventually allow us to reduce our overall university expenses. Austin Peay will seek to use most of the stimulus money on energy-efficiency projects which we anticipate will eventually lower our utility costs. This means you will see a lot of construction going on over the coming year. Part of this construction is the result of long-term projects that have been in the works for a while, but part of it will also include new projects funded by federal stimulus dollars.
Well, I hope that wasn’t too long-winded for you. These are challenging financial times, both for the university and for our students, I’m sure. But it’s still a great time to invest in your future by getting the education you need at Austin Peay for that future.
