Board of Regents Approves Tuition Increase, New Sustainability Fee

On Wednesday, May 6, 2015, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents voted 9-3 to approve increases to Frostburg State University’s tuition and fees schedule, including a 5 percent tuition increase and a new $30 sustainability fee.

Here is the link to FSU’s Tuition and Fees Schedule for Fiscal Year 2016.

Tuition will increase 5 percent, raising in-state tuition by $298, out-of-state tuition by $880, and out-of-state regional tuition by $658. This 5 percent increase comes months after a budget shortfall caused a midyear tuition increase.

Fees for athletics and technology will both increase 4.9 percent, while the student union fee will increase 4.6 percent.

The auxiliary fee, the student activity fee, and the transportation fee will not increase.

“The 5 percent tuition increase reflected careful consideration in the budget process during the legislative session, and efforts to balance working to keep tuition affordable while bringing in enough money to all USM campuses to give students the resources — including class sessions, campus staffing, and critical services — to be successful,” said Mike Lurie, a spokesperson for the University System of Maryland.

“An increase of roughly $300 per year is a challenge for any student, but the USM continues to compare favorably during a difficult economy with many states in the U.S. that have experienced double-digit tuition increases,” he said.

FSU officials expected to receive more state funding, and will have to make even more cuts, despite the tuition increase.

“The 5% tuition increase covers the amount that Governor Hogan was expected to put into the USM budget, and then did not,” said  FSU President Jonathan Gibralter. “Frostburg State University is actually facing a 1.7 million dollar budget cut next year, even with the 5% tuition increase.”

Gibralter also explained that, “The sustainability fee was presented by Frostburg State University students and was voted for by them (SGA). It is to allow projects related to sustainability to be implemented by the President’s Advisory Council on Sustainability.”

SGA President Katelyn Currier said, “Last spring the sustainability committee brought this item to be voted on. SGA at that time approved and supported this effort because there was no fee in place to have new filtered water fountains and other green efforts the students wanted to have around campus. This fee will be used to purchase and help the school with green initiatives because the money already allocated to other budgets cannot be used for such things.”

“Some of the projects being discussed are putting meters on all the buildings on campus,” said Samuel Lohff, a student representative on the President’s Advisory Council on Sustainability and a former SGA senator who voted for the sustainability fee. “This would allow us to more effectively track the consumption of each building and ultimately find ways to make those buildings more efficient. There has also been talk of using fund to establish solar power at the current location where Frostburg grows is, helping to extend the sustainable image that program already has. Another major item we are discussing is using the fee to give research grants to graduate students seeking to obtain a degree relating to sustainability.

“This fee benefits students because it is think more long term,” Lohff said. “By students investing into sustainability now, even just on a small scale $30 per year, we can begin to make the campus more efficient and sustainable, eventually saving money for students and the campus as a whole.”

This story has been updated.