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Fees, tuition increases approved |
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Thursday, 17 January 2008 |
 | Lovins
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by JILLIAN SWORDS
News Reporter
Fees and tuition increases for the 2008-09 school year have been approved and will see an overall increase of $287, Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Greg M. Lovins said.
The total cost of tuition, fees, subsistence and service charges will be $9,893 for in-state, on campus students.
Tuition will increase $42 and general fees will increase $48 next year. This includes a $40 increase in the athletics fee, 45 percent of which will go toward the expansion of Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Room and board fees will increase $170. Book rentals will increase $25 due to the fact that the
adoption period for rentals has changed from three to two years.
Lovins said half of the $42 tuition increase will go to an increase in staff salaries. It is a goal of the
university to be within the 80th percentile of peer institutions.
“We’re trying to keep faculty salaries competitive with our peers so we don’t lose any of our excellent
faculty to competing institutions,” Lovins said.
Of the tuition increase, 25 percent will go toward need-based financial aid and the remaining 25 percent
will be for operating budgets in Academic Affairs.
A Board of Governors policy limits both tuition and fees increases to no more than 6.5 percent per
year.
Faculty salaries have increased slightly every year for the last few years, Lovins said.
Lovins acknowledged both inflationary pressures from the economy, and the rapidly growing size of the
university, to the increases.
All major universities in the UNC system are feeling the same pushes to raise costs, Lovins said.
“Demand to attend our university has never been higher,” Lovins said. “This year we had a little over
13,000 applications for 2,775 freshmen. …We recognize that we need to grow, but we also recognize
that our infrastructure is tight and we try to be sensitive [to the Town of Boone].”
Despite creeping costs, Appalachian State is still considered one of the top value schools in the state.
“We think we put forward an excellent product at a good price,” Lovins said.
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine recently ranked Appalachian State 27th in its list of best value
public universities for in-state students.
The increase will make a big difference to faculty.
Mathematical Sciences Associate Professor Dr. Deborah A. Crocker said there have been times in
recent years that the gradual increases in faculty salaries have failed to keep up with the inflating
economy.
She also addressed the comparatively high cost of living in Boone.
“It’s awfully difficult for new faculty with the starting salaries that they offer in the area,” Crocker said. “I
think they struggle a lot, especially to find housing in the area.”
Students have also felt monetary pains of their own.
Junior journalism major Sam O. Lumpkin said he has had to take out steadily increasing amounts of
loan money that he tries to pay back each semester.
“I think the state legislature should do more so that we don’t have to raise costs of tuition; we should
have more state funding,” Lumpkin said.
However, he felt Appalachian State has upheld its reputation as being one of the best “bang for your
buck” schools in the UNC system.
“My education here has certainly been a good one, and correct me if I’m wrong, but we’re still cheaper
than UNC or N.C. State,” Lumpkin said. “I still think we’re one of the best values in North Carolina but I
wasn’t expecting to be paying this much when I came.”
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