As the Tennessee Board of Regents and its institutions work to accommodate the anticipated cuts in state appropriations, two ideas that will be under consideration are allowing each university to have a different hourly tuition rate and lowering that rate at some institutions while keeping it flat at most others.
In December, the board approved a change in how tuition is charged by eliminating the 12-hour tuition “cap.” Beginning in fall 2009, all students will pay an hourly rate for each semester hour of classes they take. At present, anything above 12 hours per semester is effectively free to students.
While the board has decided how it will charge tuition beginning in fall 2009 semester, the board has not decided how much the charge will.
TBR will not know for some time what level of cut in state appropriations it will actually suffer, but at the lowest level, it may be that the per hour tuition charge at some institutions will go down, and it almost certainly will not go up at most of them. So the dollar impact on students of changing how tuition is charged is not yet clear and will not be for some time.
Historically, all TBR universities except the University of Memphis have had the same tuition rate. Because each of the five TBR state universities is in a somewhat different financial position and is likely to be impacted differently by the change in how tuition is charged, Chancellor Charles Manning has decided that each university will be allowed to request approval for whatever tuition rate makes the most sense given its circumstances.
All community colleges will continue to charge the same rate. This approach will allow universities greater flexibility in managing their way through current and future financial crises.
The Tennessee Board of Regents serves about 180,000 students at its universities, colleges and technology centers. The change in how tuition is charged will not affect the 40,000 students in technology centers. Of the 140,000 students it does affect – students at TBR universities and community colleges – almost 60 percent will either benefit or be unaffected financially by this change because they take 12 hours per semester or fewer.
About 40 percent of TBR students take more than 12 hours per semester and will potentially pay more.
The highest percentages of students taking more than 12 hours are at the universities, 62 percent of students at MTSU took 12 hours or more in the fall of 2007, totaling almost 15,000 students.
Part-time students, who account for 36.5 percent of TBR enrollment, will definitely be beneficiaries of the new method of charging.
Under the old system, part-time students paid 30 percent more for their degrees than full-time students, because full-time students went to class free for everything above 12 hours.
Charging tuition using a semester-hour cap above which there is no additional charge for classes is a practice dating back to the days when virtually all students were full-time and tuition was charged on a flat rate.
The board believes this new method of charging tuition will lead students to be more focused in selecting courses and will lead to more careful advising.
TBR also believes it will address the issue of “course shopping,” which is a significant problem at the universities. Students routinely sign up for more hours than they intend to take, since it costs nothing to do so.
Then after a few weeks, they decide which courses to drop. By that time, it is too late for other students to take those seats. According to TBR, about 1,800 students per semester drop a class at the University of Memphis, making it impossible for students who may have needed that course to take it.
The Board of Regents will be actively involved in guiding the budget-cutting efforts on TBR campuses, with the Committee on Academic Policies and Programs taking the lead initially. The committee will hold its first meeting on this topic Monday, Jan. 26.
TBR institutions are looking at furloughs, lay-offs, larger class sections, fewer class sections, and a number of other short-term mechanisms to get through the next year.
Longer term, the board is beginning a process that will align budget cuts with strategic plans, and that process may generate some significant changes in how TBR institutions operate.
The Tennessee Board of Regents is the nation’s sixth largest higher education system, governing 45 post-secondary educational institutions. The TBR system includes six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 26 technology centers, providing programs in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties to more than 180,000 students.
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