MEMORANDUM 

To:   Board of regents

From:  Laurie Neils

Date:  5/3/00

RE:           draft: 2000-2001 inventory of fees

I am enclosing a draft copy of the annual inventory of fees for the 2000-2001 year. For the most part the schedules reflect previous decisions by the Board including the tuition decision from a year ago and the fee changes from the March 2000 meeting. Tuition and Mandatory Fees for full-time students at the Montana University System will increase by 3.37% for resident undergraduate students and 4.04% for nonresident undergraduate students. Tuition increases an average of 4% with an average increase of 4.07 for undergraduate resident students at a four-year campus and no increase for resident students at the two-year campuses.

I have included several spreadsheets that may help you evaluate the inventory of fees:

A.     Weighted Average changes for the system from FY00 to FY01.

B.     University of Montana changes from FY00 to FY01

C.    Montana State University changes from FY00 to FY01.

There are several changes that I want to call to the Board's attention. These changes include distance delivery fees at UM campuses, MSU Northern'es. The University of Montana campuses at Missoula and at Montana Tech revised the delivery fees for four courses based on the agreed upon pricing model.

Last year the Commissioner of Higher Education asked MSU Northern to review the mandatory fee they assess to students at their Great Falls Campus. During fiscal year 2000, the students were assessed $36.15 per credit. For fiscal year 2001, MSU Northern proposes $27.00 per credit. Their plan is to reduce the fee to $18 per credit in FY 2002, to $9 in FY 2003, and then to eliminate the additional fee.

For Fiscal Year 1999, Montana State University Billings assessed tuition and mandatory fees based on a matrix where the credits from 12-25 were the same price. In order to not disadvantage part-time students, MSU Billings averaged the full-time price over 14 credits, and then applied a larger increase from 11 to twelve credits. For example, in 1999 tuition at 12-18 credits was $1,016.40. If you divide $1,016.40 by 14, the charge is $72.60 per credit. That is the dollar change per credit until the movement from 11 to the flat spot. From 11 credits to the flat spot, tuition increased $217.80. Last year MSU Billings changed the distribution of full-time tuition over 13 credits. This year, MSU Billings has completed the phase-in of the flat spot at 12-18 credits with each credit level paying 1/12th of the flat spot rate. The effect of this change is that full-time students pay an increase of 4.36%, while part-time students pay 13% more.

The annual inventory and validation of fees includes assessments to students for room and board and student health insurance. The room and board rates increase on an average of 4%, with a low of zero at the University of Montana Western. The student health insurance contract is still under negotiation.

The mandatory tuition and fees for the Community Colleges are included. Miles Community College and Dawson Community College propose no increases to last year's inventory of fees. Flathead Valley Community College increased resident tuition $1 per credit, out-of-district by $1.75 per credit and nonresident by $4.25 per credit or approximately 2.5%. Flathead also increased their activity fee from $21 to $28 per semester full-time student.

If you have questions concerning this material, please do not hesitate in calling me at 444-0320 or e-mail me at lneils@oche.montana.edu.