Trustees approved the requested $326 per semester increase for a full-time Michigan resident freshman for the 2007-08 academic year. This is a 9.9 percent increase and brings the semester total to $3,620.
The approval came after the state cut Grand Valley’s funding by $2.2 million for the 06-07 academic year after the students had paid tuition and the year was completed. The state also is delaying a $5.8 million payment that should have been paid to the university in August.
“During these tough budget times in Michigan, I have asked the university’s management team to control costs with vigilance, and they have met the challenge,” said Haas. “We regret that our tuition rate must rise this year to account for declining state aid and additional enrollment not counted by the state for purposes of our appropriation.”
In the most recent round of state budget cuts, Grand Valley’s appropriation was reduced, on a percentage basis, more than any other campus. In doing so, the state effectively punished Grand Valley for embracing the mandate of the Cherry Commission report to accept more students. The net effect of the cut means that Grand Valley has enrolled nearly 3,000 students that the state does not count when assigning dollar amounts per student. This creates a funding gap of more than $10 million.
Haas faced a particularly difficult task in setting this year’s tuition rate request because of the budget uncertainty in Lansing right now.
“In higher education, we are used to having state aid fixed for the year and setting tuition after the state’s plan was known,” Haas said. “We can no longer use this model. In three of the last five years, state aid was cut mid-year. State aid has become a variable in our budget, and while I’d like to assure students and their families that the tuition we set today will remain unchanged through the academic year, I can’t because of the state’s volatile economy.”
Some additional information:
- The 2006-2007 tuition rate placed Grand Valley 13th among
Michigan's 15 campuses. Grand Valley’s rate of change in the past
six years has been less than the national, Midwest, and state
averages. For a dozen years in a row, Grand Valley has been named
one of the country's 100 Best College Buys, the only Michigan campus
to receive this uninterrupted designation.
- Total cost for a full-time Michigan resident freshman at Grand
Valley will go up $466 per semester. When you take the 4.2% increase
in room and board for 07-08 and consider it with the 9.9% increase
in tuition, the total yearly cost of a full-time Michigan freshman
living in university housing will go up 7.1%.
- Grand Valley has received the lowest appropriation per student, 15
out of 15, for more than a decade.
- 97% of Grand Valley’s most recent graduates are employed or in graduate school; 88% have remained in Michigan to pursue their careers.
AUDIO CLIPS
President Thomas J. Haas says the university's management team controlled costs with vigilance .
Trustee Lucille Taylor says because of Michigan's volatile economy, state aid is becoming unpredictable .
Photo: Trustees Daniel Aronoff (left), Donna Brooks and Lucille Taylor discuss the budget with President Thomas Haas / Photo by Courtney Newbauer
