WKU Regents Approve 4-Year
Tuition Plan
April 30, 2004
Bowling Green, Ky. -
Note: A Powerpoint presentation outlining the tuition proposal is available for viewing from http://www.wku.edu/tuition.htm (Internet Explorer) or
http://www.wku.edu/news/releases04/april/tuition/page.html (Netscape).
Students attending Western Kentucky University will know their tuition for the next four years, thanks to an innovative tuition plan approved by the Board of Regents today.
The four-year tuition schedule proposed by WKU President Gary Ransdell also outlines specific uses for the revenue generated by tuition increases, including campus improvement and academic enhancements.
"This concept breaks new ground in Kentucky higher education with regard to tuition scheduling and investments in academic quality," Dr. Ransdell said. He added that the plan is in response to a request by regents that the University develop a "long-range plan to ensure the highest possible quality in the Western experience and to stabilize a long-term revenue strategy to ensure that quality."
Resident undergraduate students attending Western this fall will pay $2,118 in tuition, up $193, or about 10 percent. Tuition in the spring of 2005 will increase $156 to $2,274, about 7.5 percent. Tuition for the remainder of the schedule is as follows: fall 2005, $2,496 (up about 10 percent); spring 2006, $2,691 (up about 7.5 percent); fall 2006 and spring 2007, $2,820 (up about 5 percent); and fall 2007 and spring 2008, $2,961 (up 5 percent).
For 2004-06, Dr. Ransdell said fall rates are set to address specific budget needs, such as salaries, benefits, utilities and infrastructure. Spring rates are set to address campus quality enhancements, including academic priorities in spring 2005 and capital needs in spring 2006.
Dr. Ransdell said the increases for the first two years of the schedule are higher in anticipation of little or no increases in state funding and coming on the heels of a $5.6 million state budget cut.
"We have achieved our budget cut without doing significant harm to our academic priorities, and we know that the state, if a budget is passed, will be providing little help for higher education operating budgets for the next two years," Dr. Ransdell said.
The smaller tuition increases for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are in anticipation that the state will resume a sufficient level of funding, he said. "With this schedule, WKU can sustain a reasonable rate of progress until state funding is resumed," he said. "If state funding is not resumed in the 2006-08 biennium, then the board may be forced to revisit tuition for that two-year period."
Although the Kentucky General Assembly has not passed a budget, Dr. Ransdell said there are no additional state appropriations projected for 2004-05 and only $1 million in additional funding anticipated for 2005-06.
"This schedule allows each prospective student, current students and parents to know what a Western education will cost for the next four years," he said. "This is an unprecedented action on the part of a campus governing board. No other campus in Kentucky is setting tuition beyond the next year."
The board also approved a second recommendation that will allow any new student entering in the fall of 2004 to make one payment equal to the total of the four-year tuition schedule, or $21,141. This would "lock in those rates through the 2007-08 academic year, regardless of any future action which may be dictated by further state budget cuts or state funding indifference," Dr. Ransdell said.
Western's tuition increases are in line with increases announced by other Kentucky public universities, he said. Those increases include 19 percent at Eastern Kentucky University, 16 percent at Northern Kentucky University, 14 percent at Morehead State University and 13 percent at the University of Louisville. The University of Kentucky has announced a tuition increase of 13.6 percent for freshmen and sophomores and almost 17 percent for juniors and seniors.
Because the tuition schedule is tied to specific projects designed to enhance the educational experience at Western, Dr. Ransdell said a Western education remains "a high value for a reasonable cost."
Announced Tuition Increases-resident undergraduate students
Institution Fall 2004 tuition $ increase % increase
Louisville $2,520 $295 13.3
Kentucky-Fresh/Soph $2,582 $309 13.6
Kentucky-Jr/Sr $2,657 $384 16.9
Eastern $1,666 $267 19
Morehead $1,920 $238 14
Northern $2,184 $312 16.7
WKU Tuition Schedule-resident undergraduate students*
Semester Tuition $ increase % increase
Spring 2004 $1,925
Fall 2004 $2,118 $193 10
Spring 2005 $2,274 $156 7.5
Fall 2005 $2,496 $222 10
Spring 2006 $2,691 $195 7.5
Fall 2006/Spring 2007 $2,820 $129 5
Fall 2007/Spring 2008 $2,961 $141 5
*Does not include athletics fee
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