The Penn State Board of Trustees will meet at Penn State DuBois today to approve what university officials are calling an inevitable tuition increase for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
University spokeswoman Lisa Powers said the administration’s goal is to make the increase as modest as possible.
The state legislature released the university’s $318.1 million appropriation Wednesday, freeing the university to finalize the budget and tuition at the meeting.
Because the state appropriation is a crucial funding stream for the university, administrators could not determine the budget or tuition until it was confirmed, she said. And with the appropriation set, the second primary funding stream — tuition and fees — is ready to be decided upon.
Penn State President Graham Spanier will address the board regarding four budget priorities the university has for the 2010-2011 year, Powers said.
She said the four priorities are: to keep tuition as low as possible while preserving quality; to remove last year’s salary freeze for faculty and staff and to make “modest” salary adjustments; to set aside funds for “unavoidable” cost increases; and to continue to carefully manage finances.
“We have worked up a budget that we believe allows us to fulfill our critical mission of educating the next generation, and at the same time retains our standing as a premier research university that can assist the state in finding its way out of this economic downturn,” Powers said.
Some student leaders plan to attend the meeting to express their concern regarding tuition issues.
University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) President Christian Ragland said he has three main talking points for his address to the trustees: tuition, energy issues and student life.
“I’m looking forward to being there as a student representative and being the voice about tuition in terms of really communicating how important college affordability is at Penn State,” Ragland (senior-political science) said.
Council of Commonwealth Government (CCSG) Vice President Peter Khoury will also attend to show his support for Ragland and the student body. UPUA and CCSG, along with the Graduate Student Association, are working to collaborate on tuition relief projects and all are “passionate” about the issue, Khoury said.
“We’re making big strides in terms of tuition and tuition relief, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” Khoury (junior-biology) said.
Also at the meeting, Spanier will speak about current admissions numbers and successful faculty and student research initiatives, Powers said. The board will discuss the For the Future campaign, some facility name changes and a construction update, she said.