University of Rhode Island President David M. Dooley remains optimistic about tuition prices at URI despite Tuesday night's approval of a tuition increase at public institutions of higher education in Rhode Island for the 2012-13 academic year.
The Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education approved a 9.5 percent tuition increase for in-state students, which could raise tuition from $9,824 to $10,757. Paired with a 2 percent increase for out-of-state students, who could pay as much $26,430 next year, the decision will affect more than 13,000 undergraduate students.
However, Dooley said these figures could change by next spring. The tuition increase, which is greater than URI's anticipated 8.5 percent raise, could be lowered if the university was to receive more financial support from the state. In order for this to happen, the state has two options: find more funding from within their revenues report, or take money from other funding sources to allocate toward higher education, Dooley said.
"This budget is a proposed budget," he explained. "This is unlikely to be the final budget."
According to an article by NBC 10 News, the state's funding of higher education has declined by nearly 30 percent throughout the last five years. Dooley said higher education now receives only 5 percent of the state's annual budget. While the university received more than $80 million in state support in the early 2000s, the university now receives less than $60 million.
"That's a substantial decrease," he said.
These decreases are occurring across the country, Dooley said. When states' revenues are restrained, state governors must decide which sources of funding are "essential," or necessary to the well-being of the state. They do not classify higher education as essential because increasing student tuition would not have the same level of impact as cutting funding to other sources.
"For better or worse, state governors have looked at higher education as discretionary," Dooley said. "They can shift the burden to college families."
This year's revenues will be the state of Rhode Island's foundation for next year's budget. Until these totals come in, Dooley said the state is only guessing what the budget will be.
Dooley explained that Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and his team need a couple of months to compile budget proposals from every facet of the state, including social services, higher education and the Department of Transportation.
In order to be enacted, the proposal will then be presented to the Rhode Island General Assembly in February and subsequently the state's financial committees next spring.
"There are a lot of moving parts," Dooley said.
Dooley understands many Rhode Island families will be put under greater financial stress because of the tuition hike. However, he emphasized that an increase in financial aid next year will counter-act the tuition increase.
"Any time we raise tuition we also raise financial aid," he said. More than $8 million will be added to URI's financial aid, which will be dispersed to eligible URI students.
Despite the tuition hikes, Dooley said URI is "still a great deal," adding that URI's tuition is less than that of many public universities in the northeast.
"We're far from the highest," he said. "We want to make sure…that our tuition is competitive with other institutions."
Additionally, the Wall Street Journal's "SmartMoney" magazine recently rated URI as having the greatest value among schools in the northeast, based on out-of-state tuition. The survey compared schools' tuition rates to its graduates' earning power.
"We want to maintain that value," Dooley said.
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