The proposed Miami Tuition Guarantee is revenue neutral and provides an added certainty in planning for college for prospective families. This proposal will be reviewed by the Board of Trustees during the September 2015 meeting. Under this plan the tuition will increase by ~2.9% for Ohio residents.

Benefits

The benefits to students and their families include information clarity on the cost of education and the ability to better plan financially for college. This does not address affordability for prospective students, but does provide a reduced uncertainty in planning for the four years of college cost. This additionally, maintains the scholarship/tuition discount rate for the students. For Miami, this is a revenue neutral plan, with the only change occurring when the revenue is generated.

One added benefit might be that students would select to utilize all four years of the program, instead of graduating early.

Barriers to Success

The biggest barrier to success might be due to lack of communication as the increased tuition may result in a sticker shock. In addition, this tuition guarantee results in reducing flexibility for the University to address economic uncertainty. The Committee recommends that we develop clear message to both prospective families, as well as the current students. The message to prospective students is about planning for college cost; however there might be some confusion for the currently enrolled students as well. Current students will see this transition while they are on campus for the next four years or so. Possibly, student government/senate can help with this communication.

The Committee unanimously supports this proposal.

Attending: Brinkman, Carpenter, Creamer, Cronley, Ellis, Marshall, O’Hearn, Pirigyi, Poley, Shukla (Chair), Weigand, and Wright