Board of Trustees approves BGSU eCampus, sets room and board rates

The BGSU Board of Trustees took steps to expand the University’s services for working adults, approving the tuition and general fees for a new eCampus delivery model at its Feb. 20 meeting, held at BGSU Firelands.

“Meeting their needs is critically important to Ohio’s economic future,” said Board Chair Fran Voll. “Our eCampus will provide the courses and flexibility working adults require.”

The eCampus is designed to better serve adults looking to complete their degree, or earn an advanced professional degree. This new delivery model will offer more flexibility for students than the typical distance learning instruction.

ECampus courses will be offered during six distinct sessions falling within each current semester. The courses will be structured so a student can enter at any point, temporarily delay at any point, and then resume their coursework without any time lost. The board set instruction and general fees for the program, which will launch this summer.

Many of the programs in the eCampus are existing on-line programs at BGSU, including a bachelor’s degree in learning design and technology and a graduate education program in assistive technology.

Ohio residents taking classes through eCampus will pay $394 per credit hour for undergraduate courses, while non-residents will pay $404. For graduate courses, Ohio residents will pay $439 per credit hour and non-residents $449. The instructional fee matches the current charges for BGSU’s distance learning courses.

Trustees also set room and board rates for the 2015-16 academic year. With the new rates, BGSU is projected to rank fifth lowest in overall cost of attendance among Ohio’s 13 state universities, at $19,298 a year.

After holding room rates steady last year, the board approved a modest increase for fiscal year 2016, with an average increase of 2.6 percent. Once again, the board utilized differentiated rate increases for different categories of room types and amenities. The increase for the Standard Double Room reported annually to the Ohio Board of Regents for comparative purposes is 3.1 percent, bringing it to $2,660 a year, or $80 more than last year.

Meal plan rate increases of an average of 2.7 percent were also approved. The Bronze meal plan, which is most commonly used in comparisons to other institutions and by the Ohio Board of Regents, will go up 3 percent and cost $1,588 a semester, or $46 more than last year.

The University will move ahead with $5.6 million of renovations to Doyt Perry Stadium to address deferred maintenance issues and make other upgrades. Work on the 49-year-old facility will take place over the next two summers and is slated to be completed in 2016.

The board also approved an increase in academic special course fees, many of which had not gone up in over six years. The increases are focused primarily on supplies for classes in the School of Art and flight instruction in the College of Technology, Architecture and Applied Engineering.

In other board action, trustees approved:

• Proceeding with plans to change the name of the Office of Service-Learning to the Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service.
• Moving the Food and Nutrition Program from the College of Education and Human Development to the College of Health and Human Services.
• Naming Dr. Dwayne Gremler, professor of marketing, a Distinguished Teaching Professor.