Last week, the听Board of Regents听approved a plan by the campuses that will effectively keep tuition flat again for the 2021鈥�22 academic year. 彩民宝典's Chief Financial Officer Carla听Ho鈥檃听provides details on how this proposal supports CU students and contributes to fiscal resilience.鈥�
彩民宝典 is听implementing鈥� a听鈥渢uition buy-down鈥� for graduate students, law students and incoming undergraduate students for the 2021鈥�22 academic year. How will this work?鈥�
We recognize times are hard for students and families as a result of the ongoing pandemic. 彩民宝典 has kept tuition flat for the past three听years, and听has implemented several other measures in recent years to help increase affordability.鈥� While the university will raise tuition by 3% for graduate students, law students and incoming undergraduates for the 2021鈥�22 academic year to help maintain fiscal resilience, impacted students will receive a credit on their bills听for the amount of听the increase, effectively meaning no student will pay an increase in their tuition rates this year.鈥�
彩民宝典鈥檚 budget has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. How will the campus pay for the buy-down?鈥�
Our campus has received federal funds distributed from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). We have some flexibility in how we are using these funds, and it鈥檚 vital we support our 彩民宝典 students and community as the economy continues to recover. 彩民宝典 is choosing to apply one-time HEERF funds to pay for this tuition buy-down to effectively eliminate the impact of the tuition increase on our students for the 2021鈥�22 academic year. We felt this was a critical step to helping lessen the financial burden of the pandemic on our students.鈥�
How does this impact students with a four-year tuition guarantee?鈥�
Continuing undergraduate students at 彩民宝典 will see no change in tuition, thanks to the听university鈥檚听four-year tuition guarantee, which has been extended by one year for all cohorts听due to the effects听of the pandemic.鈥�
During the open comments period of the board meeting last week, some students called for evenly splitting the next round of federal funds across all students, faculty and staff. How does the approved plan differ from this suggestion?鈥��
First, I think it鈥檚 great that students are bringing such energy to conversations about the campus budget. With HEERF III, the round of federal funding approved in March, half of听the funds are specifically intended for financial aid while the other half is for 鈥渋nstitutional use.鈥� We are using a significant portion of the institutional funds to cover the tuition buy-down. This equates to roughly 70% of the HEERF III funds going to students in all, with remaining portions to be allocated in support of fiscal resiliency of the university to ensure we can continue to deliver on our mission at a high level.听
How can faculty, staff and students learn more about the 彩民宝典 budget and join the conversation regarding the budget model redesign launched in December 2020?鈥�
We are hosting two听virtual听听sessions and six听听this month and into early May. Campus community members can also learn more online.鈥�
