University general fees, housing and meal plan rates have increased for the 2020-2021 academic year.
President Martha Burger informed students of the changes in an email to the campus community on Jan. 30.
“Oklahoma City University’s Board of Trustees has finalized tuition and fees for the 2020-2021 academic year. Tuition will remain flat with no increase for next year,” the email read. “Beginning with the Summer 2020 semester, the University General Fee will increase $5 per credit hour to $155/credit hour. For full-time undergraduate students taking 15 hours per semester, this increase will total $75 each semester. For a graduate student taking 9 hours, the increase is $45 per semester.”
Some housing rates will increase and the cost of meal plans will rise 2%. Meal plans also will be restructured to increase flexibility.
The changes include:
– Increased points
– An increase from the 2-swipe limit per meal at the Caf
– Two new residential meal plans with increased weekly meals
– Three new meal plans for Cokesbury Court residents
– Three new commuter meal plans
– Removal of meal exchanges and Stars Cash
– Addition of the “Recharge” program
– A new “Dine on Campus” App feature that will allow students to build a profile and identify items in the Caf that fit specific dietary needs and preferences
Kevin Windholz, vice president for enrollment management and communications, said the purpose of the increase is to implement changes to improve the student experience.
“It’s not only to help the university keep up with natural cost of living expenses, but it is also to help continue to fund things to supplement education,” he said.
In the email, Burger said university funding priorities during the next academic year include diversity and inclusion initiatives, housing improvements and technology upgrades.
Windholz said the priorities were determined based on student concern and response.
“We hear a lot about technology issues that students have,” he said. “We know that technology access on campus is really important.”
Casey Kreger, director of housing and residence life, said students can expect new housing projects in the future due to the increase.
“We never increase just to increase,” Kreger said. “It comes from, ‘how would the student experience be enhanced through this increase.’”
Emily Anderson, director of dining services, said the Recharge Plan will allow students to add Stars points if they run out throughout the semester and was added based on student response from past dining surveys.
“People forget sometimes that points are tax free, so you can save quite a bit on those,” Anderson said.
The Dine on Campus website will now allow students to create a profile with their allergy information that they can show to dining employees to see what they can eat.
“They can say, ‘hey, what can I eat?’ These are the things that I need to avoid, and then we can walk around with you and say, ‘this station and that station has this,’ so it just adds a little bit more of a personalized feature for the Caf,” Anderson said.
Kreger said the purpose of the increase is to enhance the student experience for current and future students.
“Yes, we can do a short term fix, but that’s not going to fix it for the next students or two years or five years,” he said. “So we have to really look at a strategic long-term vision.”
Joey Brue, entertainment business junior, said when he learned of the increase, he was a little taken back, but he also knew there were going to be yearly increases because of the announcement last year. Officials informed students of the previous year’s increase Dec. 20, 2018.
“I definitely think it’s a good thing that we’re improving in all of these areas,” he said.
Brue said he appreciates that officials have been listening to student concerns and are making changes.
“As a commuter myself, the added meal plans for the commuter was super exciting to see that there’s going to be more options for us,” Brue said.
Students should remember that most improvements or new programs at OCU will cost money, Brue said.
“Keep in perspective that this is an organization, and every organization has costs indirectly and directly that they have to deal with,” he said. “If we’re spending money to implement changes, it’s going to add a little money to the people that are paying for those changes to happen.”
Windholz said increases are very typical of colleges, and officials will continue to evaluate to determine if increases will happen each year.
If students are experiencing financial difficulties, Windholz said they can contact the financial aid office or their financial aid counselor.
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