5.5 percent hike for state residents will add $271 a semester to expenses

By Anna Simon
STAFF WRITER

Clemson University trustees approved a 5.5 percent tuition increase Friday for in-state students that will add $271 a semester to the cost of a Tiger education.

Tuition was increased 7.5 percent for nonresidents, adding $816 a semester over current prices.

In-state tuition will be $5,189 this fall, and out-of-state students will pay $11,700.

Trustees also eliminated the current $50 per semester information technology fee for freshmen, who have the added cost of purchasing a laptop computer, and raised it to $115 per semester for all other students to provide technology services and support.

Clemson President James Barker said $3.1 million in savings and internal reallocations, including outsourcing printing and the motor pool and new cell phone and purchase order policies, prevented an added 3 percent tuition increase in a challenging budget year.

Budget challenges include general inflation, a state pay increase, fringe benefit costs, a state funding cut, academic investments and support investments, Barker said.

The university's five-year plan "anticipates challenges," Barker said. Clemson will "maintain focus" and "adhere to" its vision and plan to become one of the nation's Top 20 public universities, Barker said.

"We have no plans to surrender," he said. "We've been here before."

The tuition increase, which will generate about $10.9 million, is part of a $692 million budget trustees approved Friday. The 2008-09 budget is 3 percent larger than 2007-08, but is a percentage point or two below the anticipated Higher Education Price Index, a national indicator, Barker said.

About 75 percent of budgeted expenses are for instruction and academic functions, said Brett Dalton, chief financial officer.

Barker said Clemson will continue to move forward in key emphasis areas, including the ICAR campus in Greenville, Restoration Institute in Charleston and Advanced Materials Center in Anderson County.