Spring Break
CSU finalizes budget, tuition
Erik Myers, The Rocky Mountain Collegian
Issue date: 6/27/07 Section: News
The CSU Board of Governors approved the CSU's general budget Wednesday, allowing the university to increase tuition by 16 percent for the 2007-08 academic year.
The approved $376.3 million budget, CSU's largest in 15 years, also allows the hiring of 45 new faculty members, an increase in faculty salaries and the addition of new academic programs.
The tuition increase - about $287 per semester for full-time, in-state students and $1,243 for out-of-state students - is a much-needed and painful step in the right direction, officials say.
"The state isn't funding higher education, and CSU needs the money to remain competitive," said Katie Gleeson, president of the ASCSU. "It's really sad that students have to bear the brunt of these costs."
Despite new, promising shifts for faculty, the tuition raise adds weight to an already inflated cost of higher education in Colorado.
Gleeson said the ongoing problem stems from a lack of funding from the state, which ultimately forced the Board to pull funding from students.
In addition to opening new spots on campus, the top fiscal shifts in the budget include a 5 percent raise for faculty/staff salary.
CSU political science professor John Straayer said the budget's changes showed promise, noting that a salary increase would help the university retain faculty.
More importantly, though, Straayer said it's important that the university invest in the newly available faculty spots.
"(Tenure faculty) should be, hands down, the institution's number one priority this year, next year, the year after that," he said. "This year…they're making an effort to do exactly that. That's what they should be doing."
For Straayer, a university's intellectual foundation depends on its tenure faculty. Giving a professor a permanent residence, he said, allows for long-term scholarly research and requires professors to take on internal maintenance, from sorting out a program's curriculum to participation in various faculty committees.
The approved $376.3 million budget, CSU's largest in 15 years, also allows the hiring of 45 new faculty members, an increase in faculty salaries and the addition of new academic programs.
The tuition increase - about $287 per semester for full-time, in-state students and $1,243 for out-of-state students - is a much-needed and painful step in the right direction, officials say.
"The state isn't funding higher education, and CSU needs the money to remain competitive," said Katie Gleeson, president of the ASCSU. "It's really sad that students have to bear the brunt of these costs."
Despite new, promising shifts for faculty, the tuition raise adds weight to an already inflated cost of higher education in Colorado.
Gleeson said the ongoing problem stems from a lack of funding from the state, which ultimately forced the Board to pull funding from students.
In addition to opening new spots on campus, the top fiscal shifts in the budget include a 5 percent raise for faculty/staff salary.
CSU political science professor John Straayer said the budget's changes showed promise, noting that a salary increase would help the university retain faculty.
More importantly, though, Straayer said it's important that the university invest in the newly available faculty spots.
"(Tenure faculty) should be, hands down, the institution's number one priority this year, next year, the year after that," he said. "This year…they're making an effort to do exactly that. That's what they should be doing."
For Straayer, a university's intellectual foundation depends on its tenure faculty. Giving a professor a permanent residence, he said, allows for long-term scholarly research and requires professors to take on internal maintenance, from sorting out a program's curriculum to participation in various faculty committees.
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