The Board of Regents approved the four percent tuition increase, along with the 2009 Master Plan at its meeting March 11 at Northern Kentucky University.

Undergraduate resident students attending classes in the fall of 2009 will now be paying at a rate of $283 a credit hour ‘- an $11 increase from 2008-09 school year.

The increase was done with the Council on Postsecondary Education’s (CPE) recommendation that a four percent cap be put on the tuition increase.

‘The university doesn’t like to raise tuition, but the increase is the lowest it has been in years,’ Director of Communications Chris Cole said.

Non-residents were hit the hardest, as tuition increased by seven percent ($533 per hour).

According to the CPE policy non-resident students should pay at least two times the amount of residents ‘- a policy put in place on Nov. 7, 2008.

‘(The policy) isn’t specific to the university,’ Cole said. ‘It affects all the universities in different ways. The policy affects NKU more, because of it being a border state and many students coming from Indiana and Ohio.’

The increase is projected to accumulate $4 million in revenue for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, based on the enrollment this past year at NKU.

As far as graduate, business and law tuition rates, the rise in tuition was based on market conditions, affordability concerns and public policy considerations, according to the Presidential Recommendation portion of the Board Regents meeting document.

Another key at the Board of Regents Meeting was the passing of the 2009 Master Plan.
The goals of the master plan are to create a setting, which reflects the campuses priorities and a commitment to students, faculty and staff.

The plan has some land use patterns laid out that explain how it will be implemented on campus, according to the 2009 Master Plan:

‘bull; Implement a comprehensive and integrated approach that defines building, open space and pedestrian circulation, transportation, parking and utility patterns

‘bull; Concentrate academic and other student intensive facilities within the academic core.

‘bull; Achieve the space targets defined in the Kentucky Postsecondary Education 2007 Study by adding 2.1 million gross square feet of new development. (Existing space: 1,458,000 gross square feet)

‘bull; Extend the academic core by positioning building clusters at locations, which directly relate to existing core buildings and the proposed open space and pedestrian systems. Use these clusters to create neighborhoods or districts with their own identities.

‘bull; Utilize building sites to their optimal potential and achieve a concentrated campus core by first using renovation, then infill and finally building sites along the outer edges of the core.

‘bull; Become a residential campus by increasing the availability of beds and creating on-campus residential neighborhoods. The goal is to have a total of 4,000 beds on campus.

‘bull; Explore commercial and residential development opportunities with city and private developers. Work to achieve a significant campus town which is appealing to students along the U.S. 27 corridor.

For more on the 2009 Master Plan and tuition increases, log on to thenortherner.com for PDF’s of the documents.
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