Forum addresses tuition

By Joy Priest

The proposed 2011-2012 operating and capital budget, which contains the recently proposed tuition increase, was presented Monday morning at a budget forum in the Center Theater of the Student Center.

“This is to provide transparency,” Angela Martin, who led the presentation, said about the forum. Martin is the vice president for financial operations at UK and treasurer.

The budget, which will be recommended to the Board of Trustees on May 3, proposes a 6 percent overall increase, which includes tuition, mandatory fees and on-campus housing and dining, and a 3 percent increase for UK employee salaries.

Martin’s presentation compared Kentucky to surrounding states (TuitionGeo), and UK to benchmark and Top 20 institutions (Top20tuition). Generally, resident undergraduate tuition at UK was shown as lower in comparison to these other institutions.

Martin said a concern with the increase was out-of-state tuition.

“Non-resident rates are a bit more sensitive,” Martin said. “You have to be careful adjusting this rate because you can adjust it too high and students won’t come … you’ll end up having less revenue.”

Lower division resident undergraduates would experience a $259 increase per semester with the proposed budget, and upper division students would experience a $266.50 per semester increase.

Martin cited class size and student-to-faculty ratios as the reason for the higher increase in upper division classes, as well as the rank of professors teaching those classes. She said graduate students’ tuition would also increase by 6 percent.

Martin’s presentation showed expenditures increasing to $32 million, while the revenue was adding up to $28 million for the 2011-2012 budget. After the tuition and salary increases from the proposed budget, UK Spokesman Jay Blanton said there would still be a gap.

“This leaves a budget gap of about 7.8 percent,” Blanton said. “That will result in more reductions in departments across campus.”

Some expenditures cited at the forum were a new dorm to replace Jewell and Boyd halls and a reduction in state appropriations, which make up 12.5 percent of the university’s total budget.

Housing would see a 9 percent increase, due to the need for new dorm facilities, as UK student enrollment grows, and on-campus dining would see around a 3 percent increase.

Blanton said these individual percentages were all bundled together under the 6 percent increase. He said the new dorm being planned by administration was not related to the newly constructed facility that is to be the Wildcat Coal Lodge.

“(Wildcat Coal Lodge) is separate,” Blanton said. “I think it’s for Jewell and Boyd. One of them has been offline for some time and this replaces those two dorms. It has nothing to do with the Coal Lodge.”

Martin said this period of state reductions began during the 2007-2008 school year when UK expected 37 percent of its budget to come from state appropriations, and the budget was cut midway through the school year (BudgetChanges).

“What’s happened is we have had to re-allocate every year since then,” Martin said.

“We basically got $20 million more (then) in general fund dollars,” Blanton said.

Martin said this is the first time the university is proposing a salary increase in four years.

“It is very hard to recruit and maintain faculty,” Martin said. “In order to keep our best and brightest we need to offer a competitive salary.”

When asked what specific expenditures would be covered by the 6 percent tuition increase, Martin said it was difficult to determine.

“It’s really hard to say,” she said. “We don’t track to say this dollar went here or that tuition dollar went there. Those funds are used to pay the utility bill; to pay the scholarships; to pay the faculty and staff salaries.”

On Thursday, the Council on PostSecondary Education will set tuition and mandatory fee parameters, and next Tuesday UK will recommend this proposed budget to the Board of Trustees.