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11% tuition hike

NSU and U.Va. among state’s highest

Jeremy M. Lazarus | 4/14/2015, 11:04 a.m.
Once again, the price tag to attend Virginia’s 15 state-supported colleges and universities is going up faster than inflation. In-state ...
President Moore

Once again, the price tag to attend Virginia’s 15 state-supported colleges and universities is going up faster than inflation.

In-state students can expect to pay at least 3 to 5 percent more in the fall, with a few schools going even higher.

For example, Norfolk State University and the University of Virginia are posting a tuition-and-fees increase of 11 percent for incoming freshmen — among the largest tuition hikes in Virginia.

U.Va. is imposing a $1,470 increase for new freshmen with the aim of raising money to reduce borrowing for students from lower-income families. The increase means new freshmen will pay $14,468 for the fall and spring semesters, not including room and board. Tuition for current students will rise only 3.9 percent from the current charge of $12,998.

At NSU, the 11 percent increase will impact all current and incoming in-state undergraduate and graduate students.

The approved price increase will translate into an $814 increase in tuition and mandatory fees for undergraduates — bringing the total cost for 2015-16 fall and spring semesters at NSU to $8,366, compared with the $7,552 charged this semester for in-state undergraduates.

Add in the cost of room and board for staying on the NSU campus, and the total price will run $17,336, or about $1,200 more than the $16,176 in-state undergraduates are paying this year. NSU is increasing the cost to out-of-state students by 6 percent.

Despite the increase, NSU still expects to be the most affordable four-year state institution in 2015-16. The school ranks No. 1 this year as the least expensive, four-year public institution in Virginia.

Gerald Hunter, vice president of finance and administration at NSU, said the tuition increase would keep the school on track in meeting the objectives of its six-year plan.

The increase also would help the school deal with further slips in enrollment. NSU reported enrolling 700 fewer students in September, and there are concerns that enrollment could slip again in the fall.

NSU also is seeking to end probation and regain full accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

Interim NSU President Eddie N. Moore Jr., who retired in June 2010 as president of Virginia State University, has expressed confidence that the school will overcome its problems and be found to meet SACS standards when the agency conducts another review later this year.

SACS placed NSU on probation in December because of the university’s failure to meet 14 standards. The university remains accredited for now.

The accreditation agency found a variety of problems, including NSU’s failure to show that seven programs had adequate full-time faculty, a failure to timely complete annual audits and a failure to involve faculty in setting tenure policies.

Mr. Moore has not always been successful in satisfying SACS. After leaving VSU, he became president of Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville in 2011, when the college was on probation. He left in 2012, just before the school was stripped of its accreditation. The school was shut down in 2013.

Mr. Moore sees NSU moving ahead, noting the opening of a new building for the school’s nursing program and NSU’s selection to lead a coalition of 13 historically black colleges and universities to boost the number of students training for careers protecting online information. The coalition was awarded federal grants worth $25 million over five years.