By Victoria Durgin, Editor in Chief
Susquehanna’s total cost will rise by around four percent for the next academic year, following decisions by the financial committee and the university board of trustees.
The decision was announced through an email to all students on Feb. 25.
The new fee schedule is available here.
Increase comes in response to inflation, wage increases
Executive Vice President Mike Coyne said the decision to increase cost is never easy and that all involved in the decision understand the struggles students face with paying tuition, room and board.
“I understand a lot of our students struggle and are in debt, and I know this will be worrisome,” Coyne said.
The four percent increase is made up of an increase in room fees and the tuition price. Room was increased in part to level the cost difference between room and board fees, according to Coyne.
The increase will be implemented for billing in the academic year 2022-23 and will help to offset rising costs Susquehanna faces in labor, student support services and inflation costs on goods.
“We have to pay people more to keep them here, and even still we’re having a hard time filling positions we have open,” Coyne said.
Where Susquehanna can not fill gaps in employment it often turns to contracted workers from other companies, especially in landscaping services as the Department of Facilities remains understaffed.
These contracts charge more than it would typically cost Susquehanna to pay workers in-house, according to Coyne.
Coyne also said Susquehanna has invested “a very large amount” of money into support services such as the Counseling Center and COVID-19 testing and isolation space over the past year. These are all costs Susquehanna has not incurred in the past and thus required a further look at the upcoming budget.
Cost increase not unusual
According to Coyne, Susquehanna’s revenue comes from three sources- fundraising, student payment and the endowment. Susquehanna’s endowment is sustainable but not large, and fundraising totals vary annually.
“We live closer to the edge because of our endowment than a school like Bucknell, for example, with an endowment five times the size of ours,” Coyne said.
This is not the first time the cost has increased; students over the past several years have received similar letters in their mailboxes to the ones sent out through email today.
The increase for the upcoming year is in line with these previous raises, according to the email.
While an increase in the total cost will affect every student’s bill, Coyne said very few students are billed the total “sticker price” and that a Susquehanna education, once scholarships are factored in, costs roughly the same for an incoming student in 2022 as it did in 2012.
“It’s about an eight million dollar hole we’re looking at because of the discounted price most of our students pay,” Coyne said.
The gap in the budget due to discounts is not something the university wants to fill with a large increase in residence hall fees or other costs, Coyne said.
“We leave money on the table like that because equity is important, and we want people to afford to come here,” Coyne said.
Budget issues follow national trends
Susquehanna is far from the only institution raising tuition and other fees following an increase in costs.
The higher wages needed to attract talent to Susquehanna follows a national trend as workers are in high demand following COVID-19- related stressors in many industries, according to an analysis from the Hechinger Report, an organization focused on higher education.
COVID-19-related costs associated with technology and off-campus housing are also putting a strain on the budget process at Susquehanna and beyond.
“Honestly, doing the budget has become much more difficult,” Coyne said.
Coyne said he, administration and the board of trustees know that news of an increase will not be what anyone wants to hear. He said his office and others across campus are committed to listening to students about their concerns with the budget and the overall student experience.
