Published: January 12, 2007 11:15 pm      

EKU Rates increase

Prices expected to be competitive

Students at Eastern Kentucky University will have to pay a little more in tuition for the 2007-08 school year.

EKU’s Board of Regents approved a tuition increase Friday during its quarterly meeting, although the university’s cost per semester for students still is expected to be in the middle of the pack compared with the other state universities.

Eastern’s tuition for 2006-07 was higher than Murray State, Kentucky State and Morehead State universities, but it was below tuition at Northern Kentucky and Western Kentucky universities, as well as, the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.

“I anticipate that after all tuition increases are announced by our sister institutions that we will still be in the same (ranking,)” said Debbie Newsom, vice president for financial affairs. “If you added (our increase,) we would be just slightly above Northern Kentucky University, if they did not increase their tuition at all. Realistically, I think we’re going to land where we are now.”

The tuition includes: a $245 increase — from $2,596 to $2,841 — per semester for resident undergraduate students; a $422 increase — from $7,269 to $7,691 — per semester for non-resident undergraduate students; and a $312 increase — from $4,130 to $4,442 — per semester for targeted undergraduate students.

The tuition also includes: a $265 increase — from $2,805 to $3,070 — per semester for resident graduate students; a $464 increase — from $7,955 to $8,419 — per semester for non-resident graduate students; and a $339 increase — from $4,462 to $4,801 — for targeted graduate students.

“Any recommendation to raise tuition here at Eastern is never taken lightly,” said President Joanne Glasser. “That’s true even if all our counterparts are raising tuition at a similar rate.”

“This (tuition increase) will allow us to fund several initiatives we had originally planned to fund for 2006-07 before the (Council on Postsecondary Education) imposed tuition guidelines that prevented us from implementing the previously board-approved tuition rate. It also will allow us to focus on the creation of additional much-needed resources to continue to address the unmet needs of the institution, to keep us moving forward, to address increased needs resulting from growth and to better prepare us for continued growth.”

The tuition increase, along with state appropriations, forms the basis of budget guidelines also approved by the board at the meeting.

The guidelines will be used as the basis from which the university’s 2007-08 budget will be developed.

They included additional funding for financial aid, an across-the-board 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase for eligible faculty and staff, a $1 million expenditure in support of various new academic and student support initiatives and increased funding for additional faculty and academic initiatives, including faculty start-up packages and professional development.

Glasser also announced that a portion of the unrestricted fund balance will go toward establishing academic equipment and classroom furnishings pools, as well as technology initiatives.

The board also approved a 10-percent increase in rates for all residence halls for the 2007-08 school year.

The amount of the rate increases range from $127 for a standard double room to $224 for a single suite.

“With such an increase, it is anticipated that we will reach our goal of making our housing operations entirely self-supporting,” Glasser said. “Even with this increase, our housing rate remains among the lowest in the state among public universities.”

Students also will have a new major and minor that they can choose with the approval by the board of a Bachelor of Science program in Homeland Security.

The program was developed by a faculty committee in the Loss Prevention and Safety department and was revised through feedback from other faculty in the College of Justice and Safety.

The new degree is designed to provide majors with an understanding of legal, ethical, policy and operational aspects of homeland security.

“This new program, I am sure, will only enhance what is already a national reputation for excellence and innovation in our College of Justice and Safety,” Glasser said. “In recent years, the college has received numerous inquiries about the availability of homeland security courses. This demand has been met to this point by and large by non-traditional, online universities. We believe EKU is uniquely qualified to be among the first traditional universities nationally to offer a baccalaureate degree in this field of growing interest and importance.”

Bryan Marshall can be reached at bmarshall@richmondregister.com or 624-6691.