Tuition must turn heads

How much is an Otterbein degree going to cost next year? At an institution undergoing financial hardships where 87 percent of its revenue is from undergraduate tuition, that is a frightening question.

     According to Dave Mead, vice president of Business Affairs, the average student is equal to $15,300 in net tuition.

     “We are on track,” Mead said at the second budget summit. The projected 2010 revenue from undergraduate tuition is $23.1 million, and Otterbein is currently at $23 million.

     “We met our expectation for revenue and enrollment for winter quarter,” Mead said.

     A budget committee is currently working on making sure the college is “on track” next year.

     The committee’s priorities are to focus on facility maintenance, making campus wireless, hiring for positions left open due to budget constraints, retirement contributions, salary increases and carrying out strategic initiatives laid out in the strategic plan.

     Also working on this committee is junior political science major Sam Weisgarber. “We are keeping every option on the table when it comes to tuition increase,” Weisgarber said. “I know that as a student this issue is very important … It is ultimately the Board of Trustees who makes the final decision.”

     While the cost to operate the college is going up, tuition is also going up, but at a lesser rate (see graphs online).

     According to CollegeBoard, nationally, students paid an average of $22,218 in tuition and fees in 2006 at four-year private institutions. Otterbein students paid an approximately seven percent higher fee of $23,871 that year, $1,653 higher than the national average.

     However, the average Ohio institution tuition for 2006 was $22,412, according to CollegeBoard. In light of this, being competitive nationwide is critical as the college is relying on out-of-state students.

     Otterbein has a goal to recruit 805 new freshmen and transfer students next year. “We have some challenges ahead of us,” Mead said.

     According to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Ohio is expected to experience a 12 percent drop in high school graduates between 2009-2022.

     Cass Johnson, director of Office of Admission, said that Otterbein already has 557 out-of-state applications so far. t&c