Western State looking at big tuition hike next year

It’s not the cost of education, it’s the amount of state subsidy

Western State College is making preparations to significantly raise tuition next year and for at least the next five years. The rate increase will likely be somewhere between 11.6 percent and 19.1 percent. The final amount of the increase will be determined by the degree of cuts to higher education by the state.

WSC this week submitted a financial accountability plan (FAP) to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. The plan is a requirement for any institution that might request to increase Colorado resident tuition by more than 9 percent. With the exception of the Colorado School of Mines, all Colorado public colleges and universities submitted such a plan. Western’s FAP identifies maximum projected tuition rate increases for resident students over the next five years based on three possible levels of state support for Western.
“The Colorado General Assembly is recognizing that the state can no longer adequately support public higher education and thus the burden of financing education has been shifted to students,” said WSC president Jay Helman. “We’re trying to responsibly manage the shift to a higher tuition, high financial aid model, which we recognize may be necessary, given diminishing state support.”
Western’s FAP identifies maximum projected tuition rate increases for resident students over the next five years, based on three possible levels of state support for Western. Brad Baca, WSC vice president for finance and administration, stressed that the FAP is a proposal that will continue to be refined during the coming months.
Currently, the Department of Higher Education is assuming $555 million for funding. However, they have cautioned college leaders that the allocation could decrease and go as low as $300 million. Final budget numbers will not be known until spring 2011.
Baca said that the tuition increase would be directly related to how much state help Western receives next year. “The tuition increase that is ultimately adopted will be largely contingent on the amount of state appropriation to higher education and how much we will get,” Baca said.
If, for example, Western experiences a $1.4 million drop in state support, or 12 percent of WSC’s current appropriation, Western may request the authority to increase the resident tuition rate by 11.6 percent per year for the next five years. That would be an average annual cost increase of $500 per full-time, resident student.
Another draft scenario would show WSC’s state appropriation to be reduced $2.7 million or a 24 percent loss in state support. With that level of state funding, WSC would request the authority to increase the resident tuition rate by 19.1 percent for the next five years. That would be an average annual cost increase of $956.
Baca noted that all the scenarios assume two fundamental elements: a commitment to increasing the college’s financial aid support to help mitigate the increase for low and middle-income students; and a commitment to explore reductions to operational costs without diminishing the quality of education.
Helman points out that it’s not the cost of education that is rising but the amount being subsidized by the state. In a guest commentary (see page 3), Helman states, “As state funding support declines in Colorado, as it has throughout the United States, more of the cost of education is necessarily shifted to the students via tuition increases. This is as true for higher education as it is for any publicly subsidized service. For example, if cities and counties do not have sufficient revenues for services such as road repair and trash pick-up, those costs increasingly shift directly to the users.”
Even with the increases, Baca points out that WSC’s tuition will remain below the national average for four-year public colleges and universities. The University of Colorado is proposing a 9.5 percent increase in tuition next year. The University of Northern Colorado is estimating the need for increases of 15 percent for the next two school years.