Tuition for the University and Raymond Walters College will be increased beginning Autumn Quarter of 2010. RWC Assistant Dean Eugene Kramer recently provided the Activist with a written explanation behind the tuition increase, its rationale, and what it will mean for the College.According to Dean Kramer’s statement, the College is very concerned about the demands made of its students and the impact on them of any increase. “Both RWC and the students have felt the pinch of the recent squeeze in the economy,” Kramer said in the document.
In calculating the increase, Kramer said the College considered “the expenses involved in providing necessary services to our students. Our goal was to maintain or improve the services provided with the appropriate increases in funding to meet the expenses of those service needs.”
According to Kramer, RWC will increase its tuition and fees by 5.1%. This compares to the 7% increase that the University announced in March for colleges on the Clifton campus. The RWC increase includes raising the instructional fee, general fee, and ITIE fee (Information Technology and Instructional Equipment) fee.
What will this increase help cover?
Kramer’s statement explained that the major portion of the instructional fee component (commonly referred to as tuition) is faculty salaries and benefits. The general fee includes a wide variety of student services that impact student life, such as food service, daycare and support services ranging from Disabilities Services to on-line services.
A portion of the general fee also supports security and student parking, which includes maintenance of the parking lot snow removal, salt, equipment, lighting, resurfacing and repainting of lines.
“ITIE fees,” Dean Kramer said in the document, “are commonly thought to cover technical/computer issues and they do but they also cover instructional equipment, and the upgrade of classrooms and labs.” ITIE fees cover the basic equipment of computer labs and science labs, and they assist with the technical requirements needed for programs such as dental hygiene, nursing, chemistry-classes that couldn’t take place without technology being available.
Student tuition and fees account for approximately 65% of the College’s income, according to Kramer. The majority of the remaining portion of income comes from state support (SSI).
RWC financial Information for the Fiscal Years 2004-2009 is available in the report made to The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools found at www.uc.edu/hlcaccreditation/docs/hlcfinancialreport.pdf.
Additional Budget and Financial information can be found on the University web page www.uc.edu/af/budget/budget_planning.html and www.uc.edu/af/finserv/Controller_Documents.html