OU considers tuition, housing, dining increases
ATHENS — Ohio University trustees will consider 3.5 percent increases in tuition and housing rates and 2 percent in dining charges for incoming students when the full board meets Jan. 18.
Under a resolution before the school’s board of trustees, the tuition, room and board rates would apply to incoming students beginning in the 2019-20 school year and would be guaranteed to those students for four years under the school’s OHIO guarantee.
If approved, the rates would not apply to current students, whose tuition, room and board rates already are locked in for four years, but would apply to certain undergraduate students who are not assigned a tuition guarantee because they are non-degree seeking or started at the university before fall 2015, Ohio University spokesman Jim Sabin said in an email.
Under the proposed rates, tuition for an Ohio resident would jump from about $12,190 to about $12,610; room costs would go from about $7,060 to $7,310; and dining costs would increase from about $5,910 to about $6,020, according to information from the university.
“We are proposing this tuition increase to the Ohio University Board of Trustees because we need to make the strategic investments necessary to maintain our academic quality, promote student success and stay competitive not only with our peers across the state but also on the national higher education landscape,” Deb Shaffer, the university’s vice president for finance and administration, said in a prepared statement. “Our goal is to attract the best and brightest students to Ohio University and help the state achieve the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s 2025 attainment goals.”
Currently, Ohio schools using a tuition guarantee program are permitted under the Ohio Revised Code to pass tuition increases equal to the average rate of inflation as measured by the consumer price index. That accounts for 1.5 percent of OU’s proposed increase. The total 3.5 percent tuition increase being considered by OU trustees assumes the state legislature allows for additional tuition increases of up to 2 percent in its next budget bill.