ANNAPOLIS – Part-time students who attend University of Maryland System schools may have a few extra dollars in their pockets next fall.
The University of Maryland System Board of Regents will vote today on policy changes aimed at lowering tuition for part-time students as early as the fall of 1997. The board is meeting at the Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies in Cambridge.
“This is another effort to continue to make education affordable and accessible,” said Barbara Johnson, spokeswoman for the system.
If the amendment is approved, the system’s 40,813 part-time students would see a 4.2 percent decrease in the cost for each credit hour.
For example, an in-state undergraduate student at Towson State University pays $134 per credit hour. The amendment would reduce that to $128 per credit hour.
The board also will consider stabilizing student activity fees.
In the past, officials at the system’s 13 campuses were allowed to ask the board to approve activity fee increases each semester. The change would permit only one such request per year.
Students at the University of Maryland at College Park, for instance, paid $327.50 in fees for the fall semester that just began. Nothing in current policy would prevent that fee from rising for the spring term.
The amendment would keep the fee at the same level for the full academic year.
Finally, the board will vote on a change urging campus administrators to charge out-of-state students tuition that covers 100 percent of the cost of their educations.
The amendment is aimed at increasing the share of costs borne by students who do not live in Maryland. However, there would be no penalties if a campus failed to comply.
Out-of-state tuition for undergraduates at all but two campuses falls short of 100 percent of cost, ranging from 88 percent at Coppin State College to 99.4 percent at College Park.
Non-resident undergraduates at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore pay tuition that represents 104.5 percent of their educational costs, while their counterparts at the University of Maryland Baltimore County pay 110.9 percent.
“I’m very confident the board will approve all of these amendments,” said Joe Vivona, vice chancellor for administration and finance for the University of Maryland System. “We are going to continue to look at tuition and our current policy to make it the best it can be. These are small amendments that help our current policy.” -30-