The university will raise tuition by about 3.6 percent for the 2012-13 academic year — a relatively small increase amounting to around $1,307.

The Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs delivered its annual budget report and recommendations regarding Syracuse University’s financial health to the University Senate on Wednesday evening. The presentation offered the first public look at SU’s budget for the upcoming year, including how much students will be paying in tuition and living expenses, faculty pay increases and any serious issues in SU’s finances.

For next year, three major financial concerns facing SU include whether the university can financially support the rapidly growing student body, a recent drop in funding for academic research and the rising cost of tuition and student expenses.

‘We have to be aware of the burden of tuition increases,’ said Martha Garcia-Murillo, chair of the Budget Committee.

The 3.6 percent tuition increase for next semester is lower than last year’s increase of 3.8 percent, according to the report. The university plans to continue lowering the tuition increase over the next several years, reaching a minimal 3 percent increase by the 2015-16 academic year.

In addition to tuition increases, the average cost of student housing and meal plans will increase by 3 percent, an increase of about $400.

With the tuition at private and public universities on the upsurge, next year’s 3.6 percent tuition increase seems minimal. But as the national student debt reaches astronomical levels, the cost of attending SU remains a worrying issue for the Budget Committee and the administration, according to the report.

The committee also offered its concerns about the tremendous increase in students on campus in the past six years. The size of the undergraduate student body has increased by about 2,500 students in the past decade.

The rapid increase in students has raised red flags about whether SU has adequate classroom and dorm space, research facilities and technology to effectively accommodate the increase, or whether deficiencies in those areas are hindering student learning.

‘We want to make sure they have the resources to succeed,’ Garcia-Murillo said.

Talk about the increase in students elicited a number of concerns about SU’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio. That ratio is a common measure of institutional strength in higher education and is posted in nearly every college-search guidebook and website. The budget report offered a ratio of 13.7-to-1 for 2011. Right before the student boom in 2005, the student-to-faculty ratio was marginally better at 13.5-to-1.

But the number of full-time faculty who are teaching and interacting with undergraduates is unclear, several professors in the audience said. Professors, like Samuel Gorovitz, called for more nuanced and transparent data that truly represents the number of faculty who teach undergraduates.

‘I am very worried when I see these ratio numbers,’ said Gorovitz, a philosophy professor and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. ‘To increase undergraduate enrollment as we are doing at a remarkable pace and increase faculty numbers in proportion doesn’t mean that we have stability. It may be that the faculty coming in are teaching less at the undergraduate level.’

The Budget Committee turned questions about the specifics of SU’s increasing enrollment over to the Ad Hoc Committee on Enrollment, which is researching the effect of the six-year increase and will present an update later in the semester.

A third major concern in the budget report was the drop in funds for academic research in 2011 from about $85 million to $65 million. A sharp drop in research grants from New York state primarily contributed to the drop at SU, according to the budget report.

Available research money plays a big role in SU’s reputation nationally and abroad, particularly in the sciences, engineering and for doctoral programs. The committee recommended that the central administration, in collaboration with the school and colleges, create a clear plan for raising more research funds.

‘From the community perspective,’ Garcia-Murillo said, ‘research is really important for the reputation of our university.’

rastrum@syr.edu 

Published on February 15, 2012 at 12:00 pm