×

Bill would allow hike of full-time students’ tuition

WEST LIBERTY – West Liberty University President Robin Capehart said the university wants to take part in a pilot program being considered by the West Virginia Legislature that would allow six colleges and universities to change the way they calculate tuition.

As such schools try to account for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s 7.5 percent budget cuts, a bill in the state Senate would create a pilot program that lets those schools charge tuition by the credit hour rather than by the semester. It would likely result in significant increases in tuition for full-time students, and decreases for part-timers. The Senate expects to vote on the bill on Wednesday.

“Right now if a student pays tuition they can take as many hours as they want, and many times that can create a situation where students are taking excess hours for which the college has to basically provide professors,” Capehart said.

For financial aid purposes, the federal government classifies someone who takes 12 credit hours per semester (generally four courses) as a full-time student, although 15 credit hours per semester are usually required to graduate on time. In West Virginia, students who take a minimum of 12 credit hours are all charged the same semester rate, even if they are enrolled for 15 or 18 credits.

But Capehart said that they would prefer to charge only for students who took more than 15 credit hours, as that is the number that is required to graduate on time.

This bill would let schools recoup the costs of those extra credits by charging for each credit hour above 12.

West Virginia Northern Community College President Martin Olshinsky declined to comment on whether his institution would like to participate, as he and other officials still are studying the proposal.

The bill was requested by Pierpont Community and Technical College, which has pledged to cut planned tuition rates if the bill passes. Pierpont President Doreen Larson said the current tuition system is based on an outdated view of the college experience.

“This model is based on an old style four-year model where you leave home, go to campus, are a full-time student,” Larson said. “Our students are no longer like that even in four-year schools.”

At Pierpont, just 40 percent of students take more than 12 credit hours per term and would see tuition rise. Across the statewide community college system, that number drops to 30 percent, according to state data. But if other participating colleges did not follow Pierpont’s lead and correspondingly cut tuition rates to accompany the change, it would mean substantial tuition increases for full-time students.

Up to two other community colleges and three four-year colleges could participate in the program.

The number of students impacted at four-year colleges would be much greater.

More than 75 percent of the students in West Virginia’s four-year colleges and universities take a full course load and would see substantial tuition increases under the pilot project, absent other changes. Students taking 15 credit hours per semester would see their tuition rise by an average of $1,422 per year. The change would disproportionately affect students on P.R.O.M.I.S.E. Scholarships, who must average 15 credit hours per semester to remain eligible.

The change would seem likely to dissuade students from taking heavier course loads, as those additional credits would no longer be subsidized. Students then would take longer to complete their degrees.

Charging tuition by the credit hour could bring in so much additional revenue that Pierpont will cut planned tuition rates by 9 percent if the bill passes and still bring in enough money to cover most of the 7.5 percent budget cuts. But there’s no guarantee that other schools would follow suit. If, hypothetically, all 11 four-year colleges and universities were to charge by the credit hour, it would cover all planned budget cuts and bring in an additional $100 million in revenue.

A memorandum from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission warns that students taking heavy course loads may resort to student loans to cover additional costs.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today