University of Akron raises tuition for freshmen by 4.6%, cites 'inflationary pressures'
The University of Akron is raising the tuition rate by 4.6% for its incoming freshmen class.
The university’s board of trustees approved the changes Wednesday at its regular meeting.
For the main Akron campus, the cost will increase from $495 per student credit hour to $517.77, a change of $22.77.
UA considers a full-time student to be taking at least 12 credit hours. Full-time incoming freshman taking 12 or more credit hours at the main campus will pay an additional $273.24 per semester, or $546.48 more per academic year (two semesters).
For the university’s regional campuses, the change for lower-level tuition will rise from $294.21 per student credit hour to $307.74, a change of $13.53. The change for upper-level tuition will increase from $330.44 per student credit hour to $345.64, a change of $15.20.
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The rate will be locked in for the entire time the incoming freshmen class is at the university, said Dallas Grundy, the university’s senior vice president and chief financial officer.
Grundy said the university did not increase tuition rates in fall 2021, but the university is feeling the ongoing effects of inflation and rising prices.
“The change comes really after a year-long hiatus of no change here on campus,” he said. “We're seeing not only our peers making some of the similar decisions, but for us specifically, it was seeing some of the pressure that the current economic environment is yielding to us. We're seeing the effects of the inflationary pressures.”
The percentage increase is the maximum allowable under state law, Grundy said. It includes a 2% straight tuition rate increase and a 2.6% inflationary rate.
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Under state law, state universities can hike tuition by the average rate of inflation for the previous 60-month period plus the percentage increase allowed by the General Assembly.
“It pales in comparison to the…8-plus percent inflationary rate that we're currently experiencing [nationwide],” Grundy said. “And we're seeing that in every facet of our operations, from the operating budget to capital budgets that we're managing, all of these pricing, all of these costs are going up.”
The change applies only to the incoming freshmen class; tuition rates aren’t changing for current undergraduate students, nor are they changing for graduate students or law school students.
“This change really is affecting…less than 20% of our population,” Grundy said. “Over 80% of our continuing students will not be affected by this at all.”
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Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: University of Akron raising tuition for incoming freshmen by 4.6%
