College Placement Consulting

Wednesday, March 2, 2011    By JESSE YEATMAN

The cost to attend St. Mary's College of Maryland will increase next year to more than $25,000 to help cover staff and faculty benefits and other campus expenses.

The 6 percent increase was approved by the college's trustees Saturday. It means an in-state student living on campus will pay $25,345 for tuition, room and board and mandatory fees.

"This is a pretty large tuition increase," Neil Irwin, trustee and chair of the board's enrollment and student affairs, said. He advised the board to consider the impact this increase will have on students as a factor when discussing future tuition increases.

"The typical student has needs that we are not able to meet because of the economic situation," said Wesley Jordan, dean of admissions and financial aid.

President Joseph Urgo said that the college trustees will form a task force to look at the relationship between financial aid and student performance, particularly need-based aid versus merit-based aid. Some students and college officials are worried that St. Mary's College could become out of reach to students from families with low incomes.

Urgo warned that the college cannot "drift financially" by letting tuition go too high.

Tom Botzman, the college's vice president for business and finance, said the college will add $376,000 in financial aid to cover the increased costs for some students.

Next year, room costs at St. Mary's College will increase 6 percent to between $6,140 and $7,255, depending on the type of room, and food plans will increase to between $2,050 and $4,775. Mandatory fees will total $2,440, including a new $50 per year damage fee that will be assessed to all students. Tuition for students from Maryland will be $12,005; those from out-of-state will pay $24,082 for tuition.

College officials maintain the overall cost of the college is still a bargain when compared to its "peers and aspirant peers," which are the other private and public liberal arts colleges St. Mary's compares itself to. Most other Maryland public colleges plan a 5 percent increase in tuition next fiscal year. However, Gov. Martin O'Malley's (D) proposed budget includes money to offset 2 percent, which would leave students and their parents paying only a 3 percent increase next year, Botzman said.

St. Mary's College will get an additional $285,000 from the state next year. State government funds St. Mary's College differently from other state colleges; its state money comes as a block grant with a built-in inflationary factor. The increased costs to students will net the college an additional $2 million in revenue.

The increased revenues should allow for no faculty or staff furloughs next year, Botzman, the said. The extra money can be used for salary increases when it comes to retaining or recruiting faculty, but overall there will be no cost of living raise for staff or employees.

As with other government entities, increases to health insurance rates are eating into any revenue increases. That is the main driver in our increase," Botzman said of a double-digit increase projected for the college's health insurance rates. There are also fewer out-of-state students applying to and attending the college; students from outside Maryland pay a higher rate and thus provide more revenue to the college.

Botzman said one solution to help keep student costs down is to increase fundraising. The college recently hired Maureen Silva as vice president for advancement with that as her No. 1 responsibility.

Some of the college's endowed funds have been under water since the economic recession and are only now starting to recover.

"I would hope that … the foundation over the next couple of years will be able to start contributing to the college again" at the level it did before the recession, trustee John Wobensmith said.

"I will support the 6 percent increase because we need to pay our bills," Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th), a college trustee, said. He said that the discussion in the country needs to change to better support education.

"We cannot fail to invest in education," Hoyer said, warning of Republican legislators' proposal to decrease the maximum amount awarded for Pell grants, a federal need-based college grant.

Student Kyle McGrath advised the trustees to cautiously weigh the tuition increase and think about the students that the higher cost could shut out of attending St. Mary's. "If there is one thing I've learned from [editing the college publication] Slackwater, this is a very special place," McGrath said.

Another student said her parents could only afford to send one of their daughters to St. Mary's College. Julia Andrade Rocha, who has doubled-up on credits and plans to graduate this spring after three years, said her sister is attending a community college this year and will probably go to a less-expensive state university next year. "This does affect students in ways people don't always see," she said.

Trustee Peg Duchesne said the college has an emergency fund to help students in dire need after financial emergencies prevent them from paying tuition. Donors can give directly to that fund.