Parking permits and dining, technology and student life fees will increase for Slippery Rock University students next school year.
SRU’s Council of Trustees on Friday approved a new fee structure that increases non-academic fees, as well as academic fees for the physician assistant, nursing, physical therapy and occupational therapy programs.
Students with SRU’s most common meal plan, 14 meals per week plus $350 for the semester, will see a 6.7% or $119 increase per semester. Students with that plan currently pay $1,766 per semester, and will pay $1,885 next semester.
Meal plan rate increases range from $44 to $136 per semester, or $88 to $272 per year, depending on the plan. SRU officials say the increases are based on a combination of the consumer price index for food away from home, and the cost of labor and program enhancements.
Parking permits will increase by $75 per year, from $25 to $100. The $25 permit fee was the lowest among the 14 campuses in the state system of higher education.
Officials attribute the parking permit increase to cover costs of maintaining and enhancing parking lots. Students will also have the option to park in an off-campus storage lot at $25 per permit.
Technology fees will increase by $56 per year, for undergraduate full-time in-state students. The current rate for in-state undergrads is $248 per semester. Technology fees for out-of-state and graduate students will also increase 11.3% per semester.
SRU officials say those increases were needed because of inflation and additional resources to enhance cybersecurity.
Student life fees will increase by $1 per credit hour. A 15-credit student will see the increase from $75 to $90 per semester. The fee had not been raised since its inception in the 2011-12 school year and officials say that if it had not been raised, SRU would have to cut back student life programming.
Academic program fee changes will take effect this summer and only impact students in physician assistant studies, nursing, physical therapy and occupational therapy programs.
Physician assistant studies students will pay one constant program fee at $1,950 per term. The fee will increase 3% per year to reflect increases in clinical site expenses.
SRU will start a new, four-year nursing program in the fall. The nursing fee will be $999 per semester, or $1,998 per year, and will be indexed to tuition.
The Doctor of Physical Therapy program does not have an existing fee. A new fee will be 1.25% of tuition, which averages $100 per term. The fee will help offset costs associated with equipment, SRU officials said.
The occupational therapy fee will decrease 47% as a result of a constant program fee of 2.5% of tuition, or $166.88 per semester, for eight terms. That will be instead of a separate, clinical fee of $833 that is applied only in a student’s final year.
