Board of Regents to Meet January 6 at Towson University; Regents to Consider FY 2007 Operating Budget, Including Tuition

ADELPHI, Md. (January 5, 2006) ---- The ´óÄ̸£Àû¼§ (USM) Board of Regents will meet in a special public session Friday, January 6, to consider the system's total operating budget for FY 2007. As proposed, the $3.7-billion budget allows ´óÄ̸£Àû¼§to advance several of its strategic initiatives. They include meeting full enrollment demand, moderating tuition increases, increasing need-based financial aid, enhancing the system's historically black universities, and strengthening support for workforce and economic development.

The meeting will begin at 2 pm in the Minnegan Room in the Field House at Towson University. The Field House is adjacent to Unitas Stadium on Auburn Drive in Towson. Directions and a campus map are available at: .

Parking is available in lot 20 across the street from the Field House.

At most ´óÄ̸£Àû¼§institutions, the recommended tuition increase for resident undergraduates is 4.5%. At the University of Maryland, College Park, for example, that translates to an increase of $295 per year. Tuition there would go from $6,566 annually to $6,861.

At two other ´óÄ̸£Àû¼§institutions, Coppin State University (CSU) and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), the proposed annual tuition increase is 3% ($105) and 4% ($164) respectively.

Thanks to Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s recently announced proposal to increase state funding for ´óÄ̸£Àû¼§by more than $101 million, the university system is able to consider moderate tuition increases for FY 2007. All told, the governor is requesting that more than $909 million in state funding be included in the system's operating budget. ´óÄ̸£Àû¼§Chancellor William E. Kirwan called the governor's request "an extraordinary investment in ´óÄ̸£Àû¼§institutions and in our state's future."

Full agendas and background information will be available at the meeting. Sign language interpreters and/or other appropriate accommodations for eligible individuals with disabilities will be provided upon request. Please call 301.445.2756 (voice) or 301.314.7683 (TTY/ITT) to make special arrangements.

Contact: Liz O'Neill
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: loneill@usmd.edu