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August 16, 2002 WKU Regents Approve Tuition Rates Beginning with the fall 2003 semester, tuition for resident undergraduate students will be $1,616 a semester, up $152 from fall 2002. In addition, full-time students will also pay a $100 Student Athletics Fee and a $36 Facilities Improvements Matching Fund assessment. That special assessment ends after the spring of 2004. The board also eliminated the special rate for the Bowling Green Community College, setting tuition at the undergraduate rate. Other rates set Friday include resident graduate, $1,790 (up $167); non-resident undergraduate, $4,040 (up $140); non-resident graduate, $4,472 (up $414) and undergraduate Tuition Incentive Program, $2,024 (up $164). "It is important that we set tuition now so that our Admissions staff can communicate with prospective students and their families and know what their college education will cost when they come to our campus next fall," WKU President Gary Ransdell said. "Our student recruitment materials are ready to be printed and are just waiting for us to set our tuition." Dr. Ransdell said setting tuition rates early gives the University a competitive advantage in the recruitment of students. It also aids the University in developing a budget for the next year. "Tuition is really the only revenue stream we can control," he said. Funding from the state has remained flat and there is still the likelihood of a state budget cut later in the year, he added. Although Western is expected to set an enrollment record this fall of more than 17,500, Dr. Ransdell said he is holding the first $2 million in additional tuition revenue in anticipation of a budget cut. Revenues beyond that will be used to ease some of the pressures caused by the increasing enrollment, such as hiring additional faculty. Revenue generated by the Facilities Improvements Matching Fund assessment, estimated at slightly more than $1 million, will be used to match money set aside by the state for deferred maintenance projects. Of $2.3 million designated for WKU, only 20 percent had been matched, Dr. Ransdell said. "If we don't find a way to match the money in that fund, we will lose it." The board also added 21 counties in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio to its Tuition Incentive Program. That program allows students from selected counties to attend Western at a discounted rate of resident tuition plus 25 percent. The additional TIP counties in Indiana are: Dearborn, Dubois, Jefferson, Marion, Ohio, Pike, Ripley and Switzerland. Illinois counties include: Wabash, Edwards, White, Gallatin, Hardin, Pope, Massac, Pulaski and Alexander. The counties in Ohio are Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren. In other business, the board: · Approved the creation of the College of Health and Human Services. · Swore in two new regents: LaDonna Rogers of Glasgow and Jamie Sears of Melber. · Elected Lois Gray of Hardin County as chair and Cornelius Martin of Bowling Green as vice chair. · Honored outgoing regents Peggy Loafman and Leslie Bedo of Bowling Green.
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