Student Government Association President Keyana Miller asked ETSU President Brian Noland to speak to the SGA Senate during the open forum on Tuesday’s SGA meeting. Noland spoke to members about the proposed student tuition raise and when students may learn about their fall tuition.
The changes would increase student tuition by 2.97 percent or about $130, according to Noland. Another change is informing students before the end of the spring semester what their tuition rates will be in the fall.
“What we’ve attempted to do is to move all of this forward in an open manner. We’re the only institution doing it on this time frame and on this level of transparency,” Noland said.
The general student tuition would be announced before the end of this semester, and this would then allow financial aid to begin working on those individual packages earlier. The tuition rates will not be individualized to each student’s individual financial aid package.
For students, this new plan would allow them to have a general idea of what their fees will be for the fall semester and give them more time during the summer to plan a way to make their tuition payment.
The tuition increase of 2.97 percent is primarily for faculty salaries. According to Noland, this would give a minimum of $500 pay raise to faculty and help the university accommodate for the goal of 18,000 enrolled students.
Facility improvements and technology would also be funded by the tuition increase. Noland said areas on campus that are primarily used by students would see renovation as early as summer, and bandwidth would be increased with the technology fee.
Last week was the first review of the budget for the upcoming year by the Board of Trustees Finance Committee. The full board will meet April 27 to vote on the budget.
“I can tell you there’s no decision a board makes that’s more debated than the decision to raise fees,” Noland said.
