UMS seeks increases in fees, tuition All students would pay 2-year energy surcharge

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Faced with soaring energy costs and a less-than-hoped-for raise in state aid, Chancellor Terry MacTaggart is recommending the imposition of a temporary two-year “energy surcharge fee” of $2 per credit hour on all students in the seven-campus University of Maine System.

For a full-time undergraduate student, it would add up to $60 a year in expenses.

The University of Maine System board of trustees is scheduled to vote on the recommendation, along with proposed increases in tuition averaging 3.7 percent for most in-state undergraduate students and 4 percent for out-of-state students, at its meeting Monday at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

The system is facing $5 million in added energy costs over the next two fiscal years, said MacTaggart.

The cost of electricity has jumped 30 percent in the past year, while the price of oil has increased 90 percent.

The energy surcharge fee, which would run from the Fall 2001 semester through the Summer 2003 semester, would raise approximately $2.4 million in that time. Conservation measures and internal reallocation of funds are expected to absorb the remainder of the $5 million.

The two-year surcharge should allow the seven campuses time to implement energy conservation measures, according to MacTaggart.

These measures include replacement of worn-out furnaces, installation of heating control systems in older buildings and greater use of energy-efficient lighting systems, according to Russ Smith, the UMS chief financial officer. A consultant has been hired to help improve energy efficiency.

“We’re going at energy reduction full bore,” Smith said.

MacTaggart also is recommending an increase in tuition across all campuses for the 2001-02 academic year. On average, the tuition for in-state undergraduate students would rise by 3.7 percent at six of the seven campuses.

In recent years, the chancellor and trustees have held tuition increases to the rate of inflation or less.

According to the latest available data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the increase is slightly behind of the rate of inflation in New England, which was 4.4 percent in the 12 months ending in March, but higher than the U.S. inflation rate, which was 2.9 percent during the same period.

At the University of Maine at Farmington, in-state undergraduate tuition would increase by 5.5 percent as part of a three-year plan to generate more revenues, while holding enrollment flat at 2,000 students.

Tuition for out-of-state undergraduate students would increase on average by 4 percent across the system.

State aid to the university system is expected to rise by about 4.2 percent, far less than the 9 percent MacTaggart asked lawmakers for during the winter.

If the system got the full 9 percent request or close to it, MacTaggart said, “We wouldn’t have put in the energy surcharge.”

The tuition increase would mean that for in-state students the cost per credit hour would go up between $4 and $6.50, depending on the campus.

The University of Maine’s rate would rise by $5, from $135 to $140 per credit hour. For a UM undergraduate taking a full load of 15 credit hours per semester, tuition would increase $150 a year to $4,200.

For out-of-state undergraduate students throughout the system the cost would go up between $9 and $16 per credit hour.

At UM, out-of-staters would face a $15 rise, pushing their cost per credit hour to $399. That would increase their tuition by a total of $450 a year for those taking a full course load. Their annual tuition would jump to $11,970.

Mandatory fees would rise by $86 for the 2001-02 academic year at UM, including the $60 energy surcharge. UM undergraduates would face $917 in mandatory fees. The “comprehensive fee” for a full-time student is to go up $21 to $447.

Along with the mandatory fees set by the trustees, campus presidents have authority to establish certain fees.

In the second stage of a two-year plan, new curricula fees are being established at UM in the colleges of education, liberal arts and natural sciences. Last year curricula fees were put in place for the colleges of engineering and business.

The single curricula fees replace a group of individual course fees in each of the colleges, said Joe Carr, a UM spokesman. Individual students will face relatively modest increases because of the change, Carr said, though he could not nail down the increase precisely.

Full-time undergraduates in the College of Education and Human Development would pay a single $110 fee next year.

The curricula fee for the College of Natural Sciences, Agriculture and Forestry is pegged at $150, while the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences would have three tiers of fees, $50, $100 or $150 depending on the “intensiveness” of the major, Carr said.

At the University of Maine at Augusta, which includes University College of Bangor, a $173 “student area support fee” is being proposed. The Student Government Association of the two campuses already has approved the fee.

The money is earmarked to support the student center as well as other buildings housing student activities, student services and general student use areas.