June 29, 2001

WKU Regents Approve Combination Tuition-Fees Policy

Bowling Green, Ky. - The Western Kentucky University Board of Regents on Friday approved a tuition policy that combines tuition and mandatory fees into a single rate.

"Beginning in the fall of 2002, students and parents will find it easier to calculate how much it will cost to attend Western," said WKU President Gary Ransdell. "They will no longer have to add fees and tuition to arrive at a final price."

The policy was a recommendation from the University's Tuition and Fees Committee. One of the committee's charges was to simplify the tuition and fee structure.

Western is the first state university in Kentucky to adopt the combination policy, said Luther Hughes, assistant vice president for Enrollment Management.

Dr. Hughes said the policy sets resident undergraduate tuition as the base rate for other tuition categories, such as graduate students, non-resident students, and students at the Bowling Green Community College.

Until recently, tuition at the state universities was set by the Council on Higher Education and institutions set mandatory fees to supplement tuition income. The Higher Education Reform Act replaced CHE with the Council on Postsecondary Education, which gave the universities the authority to set their own tuition rates.

"That makes mandatory fees irrelevant," Dr. Ransdell said. " We are now in a better marketing position because we've simplified the process."

Now that the policy has been approved, the board will discuss setting tuition rates for 2002-03 and 2003-04 at its August meeting, Dr. Ransdell said.

Other highlights of the new policy include:
· Keeping a flat rate for full-time students. Part-time students will be charged on a per-hour basis.
· Eliminating the extended campus fees for courses taken away from the main campus.
· Keeping certain course fees, such as lab fees, separate from tuition.

In other business, the board authorized Dr. Ransdell to sign an agreement for the purchase of the Bowling Green Mall property. Western will use a $4 million state appropriation to create one of six regional Innovation and Commercialization Centers in the unoccupied portion of the mall. The ICC would serve a 26-county area as a part of the state's new economy initiative, Dr. Ransdell said.

"We are excited to be the lead institution in the state in developing a center that will serve such a large area of the state," he said.

The purchase will be a partnership between Western, the WKU Foundation and the state. Closing will be 30 days after all the necessary state approvals have been received.

"This is not risk free, but the initiative is as important as many of the things we do," Dr. Ransdell said. "The payoff of economic development for this part of the state is paramount."

Plans call for the unoccupied portions of the mall to be renovated to become attractive to start-up and expansion high-tech businesses, said Ann Mead, assistant to the president and chief financial officer. Western will also move its Materials Characterization Center and Applied Research Center to the mall site.

The board also swore in Leslie Bedo, a Bowling Green senior, as the new student regent, and Earl Fischer of Dallas for a third term as regent. Bedo replaces Cassie Martin of Glasgow.

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