SALEM — The cost to attend Salem State College will climb by more than 5 percent next year, after trustees approved an increase to student fees last night.
Citing cuts to state funding as well as ballooning salaries and benefits, college trustees hiked the total cost of in-state undergraduate enrollment to $7,230 a year. It marks the ninth consecutive year that an education at Salem State will cost more than the year before.
"We didn't do this lightly," trustee Wayne Gates said. "We wish we could hold the line, but given the issues we have and growth in salaries and benefits, there's nothing we can do but raise the fees, unfortunately."
Salem State, like other Massachusetts public colleges, has also fallen victim to cuts in state funding. While the state supported 60 percent of the college's budget as recently as 2002, it covers just 40 percent today.
"The real problem is the decrease in the support from the state that keeps coming each year," Salem State trustees Chairman Jacob Segal said. "That's what's creating the real problem."
Regardless, the fee hike means undergrads will pay $380 more than they did last year — a significant sum for many students who pay their own way through college and were first attracted to Salem State for its affordability.
"It's going to have a serious impact," said Angel Rodriguez, who was recently elected a student trustee and will enter his junior year in the fall.
Rodriguez, a criminal justice major whose dream job is to someday become a judge, pays for his own education with some assistance from a federal Stafford Loan. This summer, he plans to work for the city, collecting trash at Salem's parks. He estimates he'll earn about $6,700 after taxes, leaving a slim margin for his cell phone bill and other expenses.
A fee hike will be tough to afford, he said.
"Those few dollars make a difference," Rodriguez said. "That's less money I can spend on books. Our pockets are getting squeezed every single year.
"I know it's a tough position ... but something's got to give. I feel like I'm piggy-banking my education and not putting any money in my savings or planning for the future because I'm throwing it all into one year (of college)."
For their part, trustees were sympathetic.
"I worry about our most vulnerable students making a decision late that they just can't swing it this year," trustee James Ansara said. "I know we're in a rock and a hard place, but if we could look at a way to help students bridge it for a year and keep them in school, that would be great."
President Patricia Meservey and trustees are hoping the state will use additional federal stimulus money to boost public colleges and universities. Because those stimulus dollars may not come until later in the year, it would be too late to offset the cost of tuition. But Meservey suggested a type of rebate program where students could receive some of their money back.
But there's no guarantee the state will even direct those stimulus dollars to public colleges.
Indeed, uncertainty was a common theme during last night's meeting. Trustees approved the college's budget, but are still waiting on state legislators to pass the state budget. Until then, the college doesn't know for sure how much funding it will receive.
And even then, Meservey said, there is always the possibility of mid-year cuts.
"We hope they don't happen, but we've certainly witnessed them in the past few years," Meservey said.
The total cost of tuition and fees has more than doubled since 2002 and has risen every year since then. Eight years ago, enrollment cost $3,038 a year, compared to $6,850 this school year.
Technically, tuition at Salem State (as opposed to student fees) has remained steady at $910 a year, but the real cost of attending the school is much greater.
An in-state undergrad living on campus can pay up to $18,557 or more during the 2009-10 school year. That includes $5,960 in fees (including a $60 student government charge and a waivable $20 MassPIRG fee), some $7,856 to live in a double-occupancy dorm room on Central Campus, and about $2,814 for a 14-meals-per-week dining hall plan. It also includes a waivable $1,017 student health insurance charge (though state law would mandate the student be covered under some other health insurance plan).
Of course, those fees don't factor in the cost of books and school supplies, including laptops, or long-term liabilities, like student loans.
Still, the numbers pale in comparison to private North Shore colleges, whose tuitions alone are costlier.
The total cost of tuition, fees, room and board at Gordon College is $37,558. At Endicott College, tuition, room and board ranges from $35,324 for traditional housing and minimal trips to the dining hall to $39,370 for a townhouse single and a premium meal plan.
Even among public schools, Salem State's tuition and fees are low. According to college figures, the cost to attend Salem State was the fifth lowest among Massachusetts public colleges during the 2009-10 school year. Last year's $330 fee hike was the second lowest in the state.
Last night's 6-1 vote also impacts graduate students and students taking evening courses. Those costs will rise by $15 per credit hour.
Students, meanwhile, left for summer break last month. Soon they'll be getting an education in the grim realities of an economic recession.
"Whether they call it fees or tuition," Segal said, "it still costs the students."
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salemnews.com.
SALEM STATE EDUCATION COSTS
2009-10
Tuition:$910
Fees:$5,940
Total:$6,850
2010-11
Tuition:$910
Fees:$6,320
Total:$7,230
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