FayObserver.com November 16, 2011 Fayetteville State planning 12.9 percent increase in tuition and fees By Steve DeVane Fayetteville State University students could pay up to 12.9 percent more in tuition and fees next year under a proposal being considered by school officials. The plan, which was discussed at a forum on campus Tuesday, calls for undergraduate students who are residents of North Carolina to pay $689 more in the 2012-13 school year and another $158 more the next year. Those students are paying $5,361 this year. The school's Tuition Fee Committee, which includes students, faculty, and staff members, held the forum. The committee will submit its final proposal to FSU Chancellor James Anderson, who is expected to make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees on Dec. 8. The trustees' decision must then be approved by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. If the current proposal is approved, in-state undergraduate students who are seniors in the 2013-14 school year will be paying $6,208 in tuition and fees that year, a 37.7 percent increase over the $4,506 they paid as freshmen. Room and board hikes The students also will pay more for room and board under the proposal. Meals plans would increase about 13percent. Residence halls would go up an average of 14 percent. In all, an undergraduate student from North Carolina who lives in a regular residence hall and has the most expensive meal plan would pay $12,771 in the 2012-13 school year and $12,928 the following year. That same student paid $10,318 last year. About 30 students attended the forum. Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m. Jon Young, FSU's provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, and Jermaine Pittman, president of the Student Government Association, are co-chairs of the Tuition Fee Committee. Young said the tuition and fee increases will make up for some state funding cuts. FSU lost about $8.4 million state funding this school year, Young said. The cost of attending FSU will remain competitive with similar schools, he said. Young said 45 percent of the tuition increase will be used for financial aid. He said 25 percent will go toward replacing courses discontinued because of budget cuts. "This is a way of trying to make up for some of those we lost," Young said. The tuition increase will provide technology improvements in classes and increase the library's hours of operation. Athletic fees will increase from $450 to $550. The money will go to pay for increases in travel and program expenses, cover insurance costs that went up 56 percent in the last year, provide funding for women's sports and increase scholarships. Christopher Williams, a senior at FSU, asked if more money would improve the quality of the school's athletic teams. Athletic Director Edward McLean said the school's football team has 15 scholarships, half what some other schools have. "I think if we get that (fee increase) we'll be more competitive," he said. Student's questions One student asked why out-of-state students had to pay so much more than students from North Carolina. Students from other states will pay a total of more than $24,000 in 2013-14 under the committee's proposal. Young said in-state students pay less because their families have paid taxes to the state, which provides funding to the school. Other students asked why computer labs weren't open longer and why students were paying more for meals. After the meeting, Pittman said the committee was glad to have the feedback. He said he understood the students' concerns. "When someone is asked to pay more for a service they see going down, that will always be the case," he said. Staff writer Steve DeVane can be reached at devanes@fayobserver.com or 486-3572. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.