Tuition for the next academic year is expected to increase 3–3.6 percent and increases are likely in the coming years. Chancellor Kent Syverud said he hopes to get students more involved in the discussion about raising tuition in the future.

Although he could not provide an exact date, Syverud said a release will be sent out within the next few days detailing how much students will have to pay to attend Syracuse University for the 2014-2015 academic year.

The Board of Trustees Executive Committee approved this year’s increase at a March 6 meeting. The committee was briefed before it made the decision to approve, Syverud said.

The increase will not be uniform across all colleges, Syverud said, adding that it’s “more than just one number.”

At a March 4 Student Association meeting, SA Vice President Daniela Lopez told the assembly that her and President Boris Gresely had met with Syverud to discuss a potential tuition increase. Syverud asked Gresely and Lopez how the student body would respond to such a change during a private meeting, he said. Both Gresely and Lopez told him students would react negatively.

Gresely said he first heard that the tuition would increase during his meeting with Syverud.

“It was news to me. I had heard that tuition was going to increase, but because I was transitioning into office, that may have played a role into why I wasn’t aware what was going on,” Gresely said.

Syverud said he was surprised that Gresely and Lopez were not aware of the tuition-setting process earlier on. He said he hopes to include a student representative in the tuition-setting process next fall.

The Executive Committee doesn’t work on a representative basis, Gresely said, but there is a graduate student representative on the University Senate Budget Committee. The Budget Committee doesn’t see all the numbers, though, he said.

The release will also describe the tuition-setting process for the 2014-2015 school year, which began last fall during former Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s tenure, Syverud said. SU increases its tuition nearly every year and Syverud said the process has largely followed the university’s traditional model. Colleges typically release information about tuition increases between Spring Break and finals week, he said.

Still, Gresely said he questions the increase, adding that “three percent is a lot.” Gresely said he thinks the increases in tuition can be attributed to more than just budgeting, but also from SU enrolling too many students.

“I think we have too many students enrolled at SU and I think that ultimately is making things much more expensive,” he said.

Gresely said he will continue to meet with Syverud to learn more details about the tuition increases. He said he hopes to create a task force to revisit the decision and possibly create a model to cap tuition.

Published on March 19, 2014 at 12:47 am

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu