Regents finalize university tuition rates

Out-of-state undergraduates will pay about $860 more to attend this university next year, a 4 percent increase in tuition and fees, the Board of Regents unanimously ruled Friday.

The hike, which would raise non-resident tuition to $22,208, is the second in two years for out-of-state students, who saw a 6 percent tuition hike last year. The regents also raised graduate students' tuition by about 4 percent - hikes of $16 per credit hour for in-state students and $35 per credit hour for non-residents.

A tuition freeze, introduced by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and passed by the General Assembly last month, prevented regents from raising tuition for in-state undergraduates. Under that law, the state paid the increases that in-state students would have been responsible for - about $15 million, regents said. However, in-state students will face a $62 mandatory fee increase next year.

System officials and regents said the increases are normal, and out-of-state students should not feel singled out.

Vice Chancellor Joe Vivona, who addressed the regents Friday to discuss the hikes, said that the increase was largely needed for inflationary costs.

University President Dan Mote downplayed the tuition hikes, saying they were "a modest increase," and are only enough to cover inflationary expenses. The inflationary costs for higher education increase more rapidly than other sectors because it is all personell-based.

The increases received no argument from regents, including University of Baltimore senior Caitlin Heidemann, the student regent.

"The governor is the governor of Maryland and his obligations are to the residents of this state," said Heidemann. "To be honest, I understand where he was coming from. I would have agreed with a moderate tuition increase because we don't live in a vacuum."

Heidemann said that a university needs to be able to expand its programs and facilities, which she said wouldn't be posible without increases.

Affected students said, however, that further tuition increases will put them further into debt.

"I'm pretty bothered by the increase," said Craig Lebovic, an out-of-state sophomore secondary education and history double major who has accumulated about $30,000 of student loan debt with an estimated two to three more years of school to go. "I'm already pretty overwhelmed by the huge amount of money I will have to pay back when I graduate."

Laura Moore, president of the Graduate Student Government, called the tuition freeze for in-state undergraduates "a good move" to provide tuition relief, but said she was disappointed that out-of-state residents and graduate students were not taken into consideration as well.

"Graduate students are already so close to the edge in terms of making ends meet," said Moore. "It's already hard enough to pay our rent and tuition. Any little increase makes a big difference."

The regents approved similar increases for out-of-state undergraduates at other state universities with Coppin State College experiencing the highest tuition increase of about 7 percent. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore and University of Maryland, Baltimore County, did not receive increases for out-of-state undergraduates. Regents expect the university system will collect about $28.8 million more in revenue from tuition and fees compared with last year.

Contact reporters Christina Cobb and Nathan Cohen at cohendbk@gmail.com.