By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The incoming class of BGSU students will pay 4.6 percent more in tuition than the sophomore class.
The Board of Trustees approved the increase at its meeting today (May 20).
Under the Falcon Tuition Guarantee, tuition is locked for four years for the class of 2026. First year students on the Bowling Green campus will pay $6,562.80 a semester, that’s an increase from the $6,273.60 in tuition and fees paid by the class of 2025.
The class of 2026 is the fifth cohort of students since the Falcon Guarantee was instituted.
State law limits the amount that universities can increase tuition to 2 percent plus an average of the Consumer Price Index over a 36-month period. Chief Financial Officer Sheri Stoll explained that the Consumer Price Index figure is now calculated for the 36-month period ending in December 2021, just before national inflation started to explode.
For this year 4.6 percent is the maximum that could be charged.
The increase also applies to the Firelands campus.
“We’re always extremely cognizant of the effect this action on our students and families,” Stoll said. “The cost places a tremendous burden on our students and their families. We don’t take these actions lightly. One of the things we see as a positive… is that tuition rates that the board approve then remains fixed on a four-year program. That gives a family certainty and a better ability to plan.”
National trustee Ava Harter asked given the rate of inflation including labor costs was there an opportunity to adjust the tuition.
“There isn’t,” Stoll said.
Inflation is running at 8 percent, President Rodney Rogers said, and what inflation will be over the next four years is an unknown. The increased tuition for this cohort represents a 1.15 percent increase annually. This serves the needs of students and their families.
“We’re going to have to find ways to be more efficient,” Rogers said. “It is a challenge all of us are going to have to work hard on.”
The university, Stoll said, through the generosity of donors, has also been increasing the amount it budgets for need-based scholarships. In 2018, it started with $800,000 in need-based aid. In 2022, she said, “we’re estimating about $11 million, almost a 12-fold increase.”
Rogers said that was a tremendous investment in students.
Tuition and fees were raised 2 percent for next year for continuing students – this increase will affect approximately 1,575 full-time 5th and 6th year students as well as part-time, eCampus or distance and extended campus undergraduate students. It applies only for one year.
In state graduate tuition and fees are also increasing 5 percent. Stoll said this excludes some professional programs which have a different fee structure.
The trustees also approved an increase in administrative fees.
The cost of a parking pass for students, faculty, and staff will increase by $5, except for reserved spaces, which will increase $10. The increase will generate $99,000.
The money generated by parking all goes toward maintaining the lots. Police Chief Mike Campbell said the fees are “a necessary evil” unless people want to put up with potholes.
He said that BGSU has some of the lowest, and possibly, the lowest parking fees for any Ohio campus.
The optional student legal fee will increase to $13, from $9. The fee was last increased in 2014.
Stoll characterized this as a great insurance bargain. The service is available to all students for legal issues, including disputes with landlords.
All funds generated by the fund are passed through to the external provider of the services, Student Legal Service.
The demand for the service has increased, she said. And the office serving BGSU is adding one position.
Stoll estimated 85 percent of students or more sign up for the legal services.
The increase was proposed and requested by both the Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate Student Senate.
