news 3 Board of Trustees might accept increase in tuition www.otterbein360.com
vol. 94, issue 19
The supposed raise in tuition will add an increase in room, board and an additional $400 fee to J-Term By Tyler DuBiak Sports Editor
On Saturday afternoon, the Otterbein Board of Trustees accepted a motion to increase tuition by 3.5 percent. The increase is preliminary and will not be finalized until May, when the Board of Trustees will go over the budget for next school year. This motion included a 2.5 percent increase in board, a 5.5 percent increase in room and a $400 fee for J-Term. The Board of Trustees discussed this motion extensively and what the reasons were for increasing tuition. One of the reasons included a $3.2 million strategic enrollment plan investment over the course of the next seven years. This $3.2 million investment
is split into six categories in order to bring more students to Otterbein, as well as retain them after their freshman year. The amounts for each category include $1.3 million for academics, $843,000 for undergraduate recruitment, $450,000 for adult and graduate marketing, $141,000 for financial aid staffing, $170,000 for student affairs and $210,000 for athletics. The Board of Trustees mentioned each category but discussed the athletics section in more detail. This included adding new sports to the athletic department as well as bringing in more junior varsity teams for each sport. They also mentioned that this plan will target new merit scholarships which will total $1.4 million over the course of the seven years.
These scholarships would be targeted towards students in certain majors such as business and non-resident students, or commuters. The outcomes of the enrollment plan by 2020 are to increase undergraduate enrollment to 3,000, increase graduate enrollment to 530, increase the retention rate to 82 percent and increase non-Ohio enrollment to 68 percent. The net revenue through this plan is expected to increase between $10 and $10.5 million, which by the Board of Trustees’ calculation will increase net income to $6.8 million. This could cause trouble for many students, as urged by Board of Trustees member Kent Stuckey. He brought up the inflation rate, which is currently at 2 percent, and compared it
to the increasing rate in tuition throughout the nation. Other members discussed that raising tuition is strongly needed in order to stay competitive with other universities. They mentioned that if the Board of Trustees were to keep the tuition rate the same or even lower it, then Otterbein would not be able to offer scholarships to many of its students. The Board of Trustees found that not offering scholarships would hurt their enrollment and would send students to schools other than Otterbein. For a typical student who attends Otterbein full-time, lives on campus, and takes a course during J-Term their expected total cost for one year of school will change from $39,341 to $41,072, a $1,731 increase. This increase could also have
to do with faculty compensation increasing in 2015, which was discussed earlier in the meeting but was not brought up during the discussion of increasing tuition. The increase in faculty wages will put Otterbein in the 60th percentile of all universities throughout the nation. The board plans to budget for the increase in the upcoming fiscal year to begin the first step in a three-year process that will increase compensation in 2015. The discussion of the topic of increasing faculty wages by the Board of Trustees was not discussed in relation to the increase in tuition. The members mentioned that the reason for this increase was due to the progress in income that Otterbein has made over the years.
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Commencement speaker for 2013 announced
Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Operations will give the 2013 graduation speech By Maura Breen Staff Writer
This year’s commencement speaker is not an alumna, as in years past, but has a unique tie to Otterbein University. President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Operations in the United States and France, Meg Crofton is President Kathy Krendl’s sister-in-law. An amendment to the University Constitution bylaws was proposed to allow the president of the university the final say as to who speaks at the undergraduate commencement during Tuesday’s University Senate meeting. There are a total of 294 senators that include faculty, elected students, administrators and staff. Of those senators, only 60 of them are students. The bylaws state that student representation shall consist of one student elected by the majors in each department, and an additional number to balance the number of faculty senators certified by the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the beginning of fall semester.
For quorum to be met, there must be 40 percent of members present. However, if there is voting on bylaw changes, then 51 percent of the Senators need to be present. For the changes to be agreed on, there needs to be an agreement from two-thirds of the people present. If the motion passes, Article VII, Section 6 of the University’s Constitutional bylaws will state that the president makes final selection of undergraduate commencement speaker and requests the approval of an honorary degree for that speaker by the Institutional Planning Council and the University Senate. Chief of Staff to the President’s office Kristine Robbins, said, “President Krendl will review options for the commencement speaker with the cabinet.” This year’s speaker, Meg Crofton, was nominated by Susan Fagan, former associate vice president for academic affairs. “I had the privilege of meeting Meg when she visited Central Ohio last year,” Fagan said in a nomination letter to Krendl. “She came to my solo
art exhibition while she was here. I was deeply impressed by her, not only by all she has accomplished, but also by her warmth, her genuine interest in art and in education.” According to her biography provided by the University Senate website, “Crofton has day-today responsibility for Walt Disney World Resort, overseeing a work force of more than 62,000 cast members at the world’s premier vacation destination. “Meg has held a wide-range of executive positions at Disney in Hotel Operations, Convention Sales and Services and Human Resources, and played key leadership roles in the opening of both Disneyland Resort Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.” In Fagan’s recommendation letter, she urged University Senate to grant Crofton an honorary degree “to help build a firm and ongoing relationship with Disney.” University Senate considered this recommendation, and Krendl brought forth the motion adding, “It would be a very nice thing to take away.” The motion passed.
The honorary degree will serve as the sole compensation for Crofton. The Director of Campaign Logistics in the Office of Institutional Advancement, Lucy Cryan, was brought in late this year,
and was not in on the selection process. “Looking at last year’s budget, it doesn’t appear that we pay the adult speaker, but we cover his/ her expenses,” Cryan said.
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