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Tennessee: Full-time students may face tuition hike

By: Joan Garrett
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Bob Adams

Officials with the state Board of Regents want to begin charging students for each credit hour they take over the typical 12 hours per semester and also encourage faculty to take two-week furloughs to cut costs and decrease the potential for layoffs.

The two policies are being proposed by officials and board members rushing to put measures in place to deal with the possibility of further budget cuts to higher education, officials said.

“We are trying to start planning to be able to do things if we need to, depending on how bad things get,” said Bob Adams, vice chancellor for business and finance for the board.

In early October, the board, which oversees all public colleges and universities except those affiliated with the University of Tennessee system, was asked to cut $25 million in spending, and next year’s state budget looks bleak, Dr. Adams said.

He said students who carry large class loads always have gotten free credit hours once they pass 12 hours. The policy originally was intended as an incentive to encourage students to enroll in school full time and graduate sooner, Dr. Adams said.

However, with budgets tightening around the nation, more state universities and colleges are changing such policies and charging for every registered hour, he said.

Officials at Chattanooga State Technical Community College support a change in fee structure, President Jim Catanzaro said. Many students will sign up for 18 and 21 hours, getting those classes for free, only to drop out of those courses and prevent other students from having those seats, he said.

“I think it has been uneven for a long time,” Dr. Catanzaro said.

The policy change will be voted on at the Board of Regents’ December meeting, but fees would not be set until next June after the state budget is approved, he said.

Dr. Adams said the change is “a fairness issue. We are in a situation now where it is really important that everyone pays for what they get. When you have a student paying for 12 hours and taking 18 hours, that is a pretty big financial demand on our faculty overall.”

In addition to changing the hourly fee structure, the board plans to vote on a policy change that would allow schools to mandate that faculty and staff take unpaid time off, Dr. Adams said. Faculty furloughs would be a cost-cutting measure that could help institutions resist layoffs, he said.

“This is something that is becoming quite prevalent around the country as more and more institutions are facing budget problems,” he said. “Rather than totally eliminating jobs, you can have people not work certain days in order to save dollars.”

Chattanooga State is not considering furloughs, Dr. Catanzaro said.

The draft of the policy limits furloughs to 12 days per year, but Mr. Adams said that could change. Many college and university presidents want there to be no limit, he said.

“(Twelve days) may be too small,” he said.

Hank Dye, the University of Tennessee’s vice president for public and government relations, said the UT system has not made any final decisions about cost-cutting measures. He said everything within the system is being examined and that furloughs and credit-hour charges could be included.

Currently the UT system also limits charges to 12 credit hours with any extra hours being free, Mr. Dye said.

In an e-mail sent to UT system leaders this week, UT President John Petersen outlined cost-savings measures that included limiting hiring, cutting travel and halting equipment purchases. Furloughs and changing the system’s hourly fee structure were not listed.

“We are looking at everything at the university from top to bottom,” Mr. Dye said.

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