Most Md. public colleges looking at 2% tuition hikes

Students at Maryland’s public colleges and universities – and their parents – can expect to see a 2 percent increase in the cost of undergraduate tuition for the coming year.

Lawmakers are expected to give final approval to Maryland’s fiscal 2017 budget as early as Tuesday, but the House and Senate versions of the spending plan are largely aligned on higher education funding.

Overall state support for higher education increases about 6 percent, which allows for the 2 percent tuition increase.

That’s particularly good news for students within the University System of Maryland, which initially requested an allocation that would include a 3 percent tuition increase; but the spending plan proposed by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in January included funds to buy down that increase by 1 percent, said Andy Clark, the system’s assistant vice chancellor for government relations.

“It’s a very healthy budget for the university system,” Clark said. The fact that the legislature was poised to adhere to the proposal was a testament to the fact that higher education in Maryland is a bipartisan issue, he said.

The final decision on next year’s tuition rates belongs to the system’s Board of Regents, but in recent years the board’s adjustments have matched what’s called for in the state budget, a system spokesman said.

Last year, the USM regents increased tuition by 5 percent, as provided for in the state budget – which translated to a $388 increase for full-time undergraduates at the University of Maryland, College Park. Tuition for those students increased 7 percent at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County because that school differed a previous, 2 percent increase, according to the system.

A 2 percent increase this year would increase in-state undergraduate tuition at College Park about $163 to $8,315 for the year, not including fees.

The 2 percent increase provided in the budget also applies to Morgan State University and St. Mary’s College of Maryland, public institutions that are not part of the University System of Maryland.

Morgan State’s board of regents, which raised tuition only 2 percent last year, will set next year’s tuition later this spring. While university officials had been anticipating some level of increase, they’ll still look for ways to avoid or minimize a tuition hike, said Clinton Coleman, a university spokesman.

Overall, Morgan State officials were pleased with funding in the state’s budget this year, Coleman said. “We got a slight increase, and that’s better than a decrease,” he said,

The St. Mary’s Board of Trustees has already set next year’s tuition rates, approving a 2 percent increase in January.

St. Mary’s has a unique funding arrangement with the state – it’s essentially given the previous year’s budget plus an increase for inflation – that offers a bit more predictability than other institutions have, said Charles Jackson, the college’s vice president of  business and finance.

The college made no increase in tuition last year, and saw a reduction the year before that, Jackson said, adding that St. Mary’s was very pleased with the arrangement and what the governor and lawmakers provided.

The budget’s provisions for Maryland community colleges also included good news, but not quite as much as advocates hoped to see, said Bernard Sadusky, executive director of the Maryland Association for Community Colleges.

The House- and Senate-approved budget plans includes a $16.9 million increase in state aid to community colleges, according to legislative analysts.

That figure keeps 15 community colleges on track to be fully funded under the Cade formula – which calls for them to receive 29 cents for every dollar the state provides the four-year public institutions – by 2023.

The association had requested those increases to be expedited so full funding levels would be reached by 2020, but the result is still “absolutely good news for us,” Sadusky said.

About half of the state’s community college will hopefully be able to keep tuition flat, but others might see a small increase, depending on the amount of aid they are able to get from their counties, Sadusky said.