Next year’s incoming freshman class will see no more than a three percent tuition increase per academic year during their time at UT.
UT’s SGA executives lobbied for the change this summer during meetings with Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Chris Cimino and Vice Chancellor for Student Life Timothy Rogers.
Despite some initial concerns, Cheek presented the plan to the University of Tennessee’s Board of Trustees. The locked tuition is set to be implemented alongside the “Take 15, graduate in 4” academic plan that will be introduced to UT’s next crop of freshman, the class of 2017.
“Chancellor Cheek did a very good job about making sure that (the locked tuition) was in there,” said student body vice president Terry Nowell. “It was not a politically savvy move for him to do that, really, because it had to be presented in front of the board of trustees, which, as he predicted, was not very kind to the thought of having a locked rate, because they thought it was a bad tuition model and a bad business model in general.”
Nowell talked to the board on behalf of the student body, expressing that students need security and predictability when budgeting for the expenses of college.
“It’s kind of a bit of a test program right now to see how students react to it,” Nowell said. “The classes that are currently enrolled, it’s not going to touch them. We’re not going to have a locked rate.”
Although those presently enrolled at UT will not be affected by the change, Nowell said that tuition hikes over the next two to three years will likely be in the three to seven percent range each year.
During the discussions, Nowell, along with SGA president Adam Roddy, worked to minimize the tuition increase for the 2012-2013 school year. The original proposal, Nowell said, was for tuition to increase by 10 percent for the current year as opposed to the final number of eight percent.
“We had to work with them quite a bit on the numbers,” Nowell said. “Because originally it was proposed to be about a 10 percent increase, seven to 13 percent is what they were originally projecting, so we ended up getting it set for this next year at about eight (percent).”
Roddy said he was pleased with the development of the new tuition plan, which was a primary running point used by his campaign, Fuel, during campaign season.
“We didn’t expect a complete tuition overhaul in one year,” Roddy said. “But what we did do, we worked with the administration, and hopefully this is setting the precedent for students to have a say in the process going forward.”
Another point being acted upon from campaign season is the ability of students to apply for administrative committees, such as the Technology Advisory Board and the Student Life Council. Empty positions in these bodies were previously filled solely by appointment. This change was actually adopted from the policy of the Revolt campaign, which opposed the current SGA executives during the spring election season.
The appointments will be overseen by SGA chief of staff Allison Cunningham with factors such as passion, experience and communication abilities serving as the criteria for winning a spot.
