Tuition set at $30,900 for fall; faculty salaries to rise

By Allison Sundaram

The university's Board of Trustees approved proposals Friday that included increases in tuition and housing costs for students, as well as higher salaries for part-time faculty for the 2006 operating year.

Currently set at $28,899, next year's tuition payments will be $30,900, a 6.5 percent increase that comes to just over $2,000. Housing, which covers room and board, is going up 3.5 percent to $10,380. Last year, the university raised tuition by the same amount.

According to Bob Warren, vice president for administration and financing, housing prices have not been increased as much as usual. This year's jump is down from the average increase of 4 to 4.5 percent.

The faculty and staff salary pool is being increased by 3.5 percent.

Employee benefits will make up 34 percent of the pool, up 2 percent from previous years. In addition, $800,000 is being released to cover compensation of part-time or term faculty members.

The part-time faculty rates are being raised in part to make salaries more competitive with other local universities.

Financial aid will make up 25 percent of the gross tuition intake, with 20 percent of scholarship and other aid coming directly from tuition payments. The additional 5 percent will be made up from outside grants and other endowments.

Included in the 2006-07 budget is a $1.5 million cushion, to support debt from the construction of the new library, which has not seen the type of success in fundraising that was initially anticipated by the university. Library expansion through acquisition has risen by 5 percent. Fundraising will continue for the next two years; however, the troubled project may require a loan to complete.

"Fundraising hasn't reached the levels that we had hoped. We're still fundraising, we will for the next two years," Warren said. "But we've built in some debt servicing in the budget assuming we may to have to borrow a portion of the cost for the construction of the library."

In addition to budgeting, the university has also set new enrollment targets for the overall undergraduate population and for the freshman class of 2010. The overall enrollment number is set at 4,575 total undergraduates.

This number includes the goal for a freshman class of 1,200, with 215 transfer enrollments. The class of 2010 will be approximately the same size as the class of 2009.

Contact Allison Sundaram at (408) 554-4546 or asundaram@scu.edu.