With a new academic year comes a new set of increases on tuition and fees. The Board of Trustees approved the increase of 5.54% for 2013-14 school year. Making sure that students are informed is the sole priority of Student Body President, Alecia Page.
“WCU takes 25 percent of its tuition increases and puts it back towards financial aid,” said Page at the student-only forum held to discuss tuition and fees. “So whenever you increase tuition eight percent then two percent of that goes into the financial aid pot, so we’re catching up just a bit in financial aid for how much we’re increasing, but what you need to bear in mind is that we still weren’t meeting 100 percent of need with the financial aid that we had before.”
Page said that a great deal of the increase is going back into the classroom, specifically within technology needs. The total proposed in-state undergraduate tuition increase is $272, or about six percent. This same amount will be applied to out-of-state tuition, as well. This has always been one of WCU’s strong points, as many students can get out-of-state tuition for less than in-state. Attracting more out-of-state students allows for in-state students to receive more financial aid, as out-of-state students do not receive financial aid. According to the information from the WCU Office of Pubilc Relations 20 percent of the proposed tuition increase would go to need-based financial aid, with 5 percent designated for merit-based financial aid. The remaining amount would be allocated to graduate assistantship funding (5 percent); faculty merit salary increases (20 percent); increasing capacity of liberal arts courses (15 percent); adding faculty to high-demand programs (20 percent), enhancing academic technology (10 percent); and library collection enhancement (5 percent).
Students could see increases on their health services fee, transportation fee, sustainability fee, food services fee, housing fee, etc.
Students who plan on majoring in a field that falls under the “special tuition rates,” such as physical therapy, communication science and disorders, engineering, and others can also expect increases.
Here are the proposed increases for the 2013-14 year:
Tuition
North Carolina undergraduate tuition $272
North Carolina graduate tuition $304
Out-of-state undergraduate tuition $272
Out-of-state graduate tuition $305
Mandatory Fees
Education and technology fee $34
Health Services fee $18
Transportation fee $16
Residential Living room rate fees are estimated to increase anywhere from $138 to $226 depending on where you live on-campus. This is however unless to live in a standard private room like Walker, Scott, Buchanan or Albright, which will decrease by $258. A private room in Reynolds is decreasing by a huge $810.
Food services fees will vary anywhere from $4 to $152. The only meal plan that shows no change is the declining balance plan for commuters.
Student parking fees are proposed to increase by $12 making a pass for the year $96 as opposed to last year’s $84.
Reaching out to your student leaders is the best way to voice your concerns.
“We talked to the Vice Chancellors who are working ardently on preparing this proposal,” said Page. “I also sit on the Board of Trustees who makes the final recommendation to the Board of Governors and I take every comment I get to them and sometimes it gets me really mean looks. With that being said, please feel free to take complete advantage of this opportunity and tell me very bluntly and honestly about how you feel about and eight percent increase.”
To learn more about the proposed tuition and fee increases for next year, visit www.wcu.edu. You can also express your concerns to page by emailing her at sga@wcu.edu or visiting the SGA office located on the second floor of A.K. Hinds University Center.
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