College Shorts Miami of Ohio Revamps Tuition System

Author: Andrea Gissing

Miami U. of Ohio Reveals New Tuition Plan

On April 23, the administration of Miami University of Ohio will present a proposal to the school's board of trustees asking them to approve a "retail" tuition plan that would change Miami's tuition plans to a single dollar amount. If the proposal is accepted, Miami would be the first publicly-funded university in the United States to adopt this private institution custom.
The new plan would replace in-state and out-of-state tuition rates with a single price, making all future students pay the same amount for a Miami education. While this will not affect out-of-state students, the university's plan is to increase tuition for in-state students to match the higher rate of $16,300.
The change in tuition policy does not mean that Miami will become a private institution. Instead, admissions officers hope it will make students from within Ohio realize the financial value of their education, since right now they receive it at half the cost.
The new plan does include financial perks for in-state students, including the "Ohio Resident Scholarship," a scholarship fixed at an amount equal to or greater than the annual per-student funding given by the state.
The new plan will increase tuition for high-income Ohio students mostly, because the amount of scholarship dollars cordoned off for the high-income students will be less that that reserved for the middle-income students. The retail plan will leave low-income students fairly unaffected because they are able to get both federal financial aid and grants.
The retail plan will go into full effect in the fall of 2004 if approved.

Source: The Miami Student Online


Columbia Professor to Head Up Amherst

Amherst College announced April 4 that Anthony W. Marx, a political science professor at Columbia University, will be its new president. Marx will succeed Tom Gerety, who will step down as president June 30 after nine years of holding the office.
Marx, a Manhattan native, earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University and his master's and doctoral degrees from Princeton. He joined Columbia's faculty in 1990.
Marx announced that his priorities at Amherst will include making the college more active in striving to improve American public education, encouraging students to become more active in engaging in community service and to review the Amherst curriculum with faculty members to ensure that it works across the disciplines.
During his time at Columbia University, Marx directed a Gates Foundation funded initiative that established partnerships between colleges and universities and public schools.
Marx is also a prize-winning author. He wrote "Making Race and Nation," which was awarded a 1999 price by the American Political Science Association, that drew on his experiences gained while living in South Africa in the 1980s.

Source: The New York Times


Morris Brown College Faces an Uncertain Future

After the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) denied Morris Brown College's last chance bid to win back its accreditation, the future of the 122-year-old historically black school hangs in the balance as administrators decide how to respond.
The SACS refused to overturn the decision it made in December revoking the accreditation of the Atlanta school, which is deep in debt and has been cited for substandard record keeping and misspending federal financial aid, giving money to inelligible students or two students who did not enroll.
The decision meant that Morris Brown would immediately lose millions of dollars in federal financial assistance, which 90 percent of its student body receives. The decision also severed the school's tie with the United Negro College Fund, a major financial backer.
Administrators at Morris Brown plan to reapply for accreditation and have promised to keep the school open.
The threat of loss of accreditation has strongly affected the school; only half of the 2,500 students enrolled fall semester returned in the spring. The school also reduced the length of the spring semester so that seniors could graduate before the appeal, thus preserving the validity of their degrees. The school does not plan to start classes again until late August.

Source: The Washington Post