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 University System of Maryland (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 USM 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: http://www.towson.edu/tu/newmap/.

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

At most USM 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 USM 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 USM 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. USM Chancellor William E. Kirwan called the governor's request "an extraordinary investment in USM 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