Grand Valley rolls back tuition rate hike

Grand Valley State University will reduce by half the tuition rate hike that had been authorized by the Board of Trustees for the 2003-04 academic year. The announcement was made this afternoon (July 16) by President Mark Murray following yesterday's budget agreement between Gov. Jennifer Granholm and legislative leaders.

'The budget agreement has made it possible for us to substantially roll back the tuition hike that our students would otherwise have faced,' Murray said. 'I commend the Legislature and Governor for agreeing on a policy that says Michigan's university students will receive a minimum level of state aid no matter which campus they attend,' the president said.

At its June meeting the Board of Trustees authorized a rate hike of $296 per semester (for a full-time Michigan resident undergraduate) for a total increase of $592 per year. Today, President Murray said the increase will instead be $99 for the fall semester and an additional $99 for the winter semester. That total increase of $297 reduces the previous rate hike of $592 by 50 percent.

'By phasing in the new rate we are able to give more than two-thirds of the additional state aid directly back to our students in the form of lower tuition, Murray said. 'The rate hike that will go into effect will be used to hire additional faculty for new degree programs and existing programs with high demand. Doing so will enable our students to get the classes they need to progress in a timely way toward graduation.'

The rollback means that a full-time Michigan resident freshman at Grand Valley will see a tuition increase of almost 6 percent. University housing, with board, will increase by almost 2 percent, making the total cost increase of attending Grand Valley 3.8 percent.

The Governor and Legislature agreed that students on public university campuses should receive not less than $3,890 in annual state aid per student. Grand Valley, the lowest funded of the state's 15 campuses, will receive approximately $3,521 in state aid because the state does not have enough available funding to raise Grand Valley to the authorized level. 'Nevertheless, this is a great start,' Murray concluded.