Tuition up for summer, fall

During an open Student Government Association meeting March 4, Dr. Randy O’Rear, the executive vice president and chief operating officer, addressed issues regarding the university’s finances, including the rise of tuition for summer and fall of 2008 from $590 to $655 per credit hour.

Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Steve Theodore was also present at the meeting, along with Director of Residence Life Donna Plank and Associate Vice President of Business and Finance Jennifer Ramm.

“I thought it went great,” O’Rear said. “Obviously I know that I can’t necessarily satisfy (students’) concerns to their liking, but hopefully opportunities like this allow us to communicate and help understand the economic picture that the university operates under.”

The meeting is the first of many such meetings that will encourage student involvement in the administrative process and alleviate some misunderstandings.

O’Rear told students that their attendance was a healthy way to deal with conflict and seek solutions.

“There’s so much misinformation out there about the operations of the university and where the money is spent,” he said. “I was excited because I thought it’d be a very healthy way to be able to explain the process.”

Students were reminded that the university is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. The school is tax exempt and has no shareholders or owners. Forty-eight trustees govern the university.

The school has about 2,700 students, more than 350 full-time employees and is the second largest employer in the community. With more than 815,000 square feet of facilities in addition to over 200 acres of campus grounds, the university continues to see growth in size and expenses.

O’Rear said, “Our budget is increasing about $5 million a year.” 

It is important for students to put expenses in the correct perspective, comparatively across the entire spectrum of income and expense.

To continue to keep the faculty student ratio at 15:1, students must continue to satisfy the needs of the budget.
O’Rear said, “To make a commitment to smaller class sizes is expensive.”

“Over half our budget goes for salaries and benefits.”

Although the budget is currently $50.3 million, the university is competitive with other private Texas Baptist colleges.
O’Rear discussed the newer additions to campus, the cost of the facilities and where the funding came from for their construction.

The Mayborn Campus center cost $16.5 million. The university raised $10 million through gifts and private donations. The rest of the funding was taken in debt.

“Is any of your tuition going to pay for this? The answer is yes,” O’Rear said. “Your tuition is helping make that debt payment. We took on debt because we felt like we couldn’t wait. You deserved it, and we wanted to move forward.”

Other campus enhancements, including the Parker Academic Center, were completely funded through outside gifts, not the general operating budget.

“Prior students did not pay through tuition for the Parker Academic Center,” O’Rear said.

Contrary to popular belief, the $4.6 million addition of the Meyer Christian Studies Center is completely funded through gifts.

 “Your tuition will not pay a dime of that. The whole thing has been funded through private gifts and donations,” O’Rear said. “If we’re going to keep tuition down … (we) either do it through growth or endowments.”

Beyond managing the university’s growth, retention of students has also become an issue.

“(That) 35 percent of our freshman class left last year probably bothers me more than it does you,” O’Rear said.

“We’re troubled by it.”

The university’s leadership continues to prepare for the future concerning housing, dining and class sizes. Numerous options have been considered.

“We have significant limitations with Hardy dining hall,” O’Rear said, “I desire greatly to do something to improve the whole dining experience.”

“It’s part of the reason we know we need a new student building,” he said. “Dr. Theodore and our Vice President of Business and Finance, Edd Martin, are in conversations right now about Sodexo and improvements.”

In addition to a new student life building, leaders have been meeting for a year discussing the needs of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

O’Rear said they are ready to begin fundraising for $10-$11 million worth of facilities, including a new band hall, a new auditorium and renovations to Presser Hall.

Theodore commented afterward that he, like O’Rear, believes there should be more meetings on campus between students and the administration.

“I think it’s a healthy exchange of ideas,” he said. “We study a lot of things on our president’s council, but we don’t pretend to know everything. Students are bright and have a lot of insight. I’m not a super old guy, but I’m not 21 anymore …. Coming here and hearing directly from students is always a healthy endeavor.”

While not all response was positive from the meeting’s attendees, many students in attendance were pleased with the outcome.

“Our faculty and staff are here to help us,” senior Christian ministry major Jeremy Williams said. “Even though we sometimes don’t think so, and we want things to happen right now, I believe (the administration) is out there doing what they can to change and help things.”

Senior accounting/business management major and student body president Tatenda Tavaziva expressed after the meeting that the goal of SGA during his term is to challenge students to be bold in becoming involved in the administrative process. 

“I had had this impression that students at UMHB were apathetic about what happens at this school,” Tavaziva said. “Today they proved me wrong. I took away from the meeting the fact that college students at UMHB really do care, and if we invite them to a meeting, they will come and ask intelligent, well thought-out questions.”