Students will pay the same amount to
attend Bowling Green State University next academic year as they did this year.The university announced
this morning a freeze on tuition, general fees and room and board for the 2014-2015 academic year.Making
sure a BGSU education remains affordable has been a watchword for President Mary Ellen Mazey. This is
seen as a major step toward achieving that."College affordability is a national issue," she
said. "It is a major issue particularly here at BGSU."Many BGSU students, she noted, are the
first in their families to attend college.In the press release announcing the move, Mazey noted that:
"Rising student debt is a concern for every one right now."The tuition and fees for Ohio
students will remain at $10,606 for the academic year, and $17,914 for out-of-state students. The cost
of room and board depends on the dorm a student decides to live in and what meal plan is selected. The
least expensive options would be $8,244.The tuition and general fees at Firelands will remain at $4,930.
Graduate tuition and fees will be held to $11,678 for Ohio residents and $18,986 for nonresidents.Mazey
said that the announcement comes at "a critical juncture" as prospective students make their
decisions about what institution to attend and current students decide whether to continue their
education on campus.While officials are hoping this will attract more students, Mazey said, "this
is just as important for our current students."Increasing student enrollment is seen as a key for
the university’s financial help. That means both attracting more new students and retaining those
already enrolled.The freeze will be paid for through savings. Mazey noted that the consultant Accenture
will be giving its preliminary report on how the university can save money in operations."We’ll be
seeing how we can implement those findings … how we can operate more efficiently," she said.At
this point the freeze is for one year only. "We’ll have to take it year to year and look at the
budget each year," Mazey said.The announcement comes in the wake of the non-renewal of 30
non-tenure track faculty contracts, a year after more than 70 non-renewals occurred.In discussing the
need for those reductions, Mazey has cited the need to keep a BGSU education affordable as a prime
reason, as well as ongoing efforts to raise faculty salaries to what they are at comparable
institutions.