Dominican’s undergraduate tuition will go up nearly 3 percent – some $500 – despite an online student petition to lower it because of COVID-related changes.
The university’s Board of Trustees had approved last October the tuition increase for the 2020-21 academic year, according to Mark Titzer, vice president of finance.
Titzer in an email reply said that the Board sets tuition rates annually. A key factor among many for the financial decision process is the room and board fees of other colleges Dominican competes with for students.
President Donna Carroll said in an email that the university does not anticipate adjusting tuition due to COVID-19. She cited the university’s past experience of offering hybrid classes will ensure “different modalities, but with the same core faculty and emphasis on quality.”
“We know that this spring’s move to online was abrupt and everybody had to scramble,” Carroll said. “But faculty have been retooling coursework all summer to ensure consistent online quality.”
Carroll says that the residence hall fee is the only pricing being adjusted downward for the fall. . Some of the reduced costs include: charging a double’s rate for a single’s room and the reducing room and board fees when resident halls close after Thanksgiving. .
Online Student Petition
Lili Adam, a junior and theater major, started the online petition “Lower Dominican University’s Fall 2020 Tuition” on July 12, addressed to Donna Carroll. At publication time, the petition has collected 878 signatures.
Among the reasons Adam’s cited for the petition are: the reduced resources originally covered by the tuition, reduced work hours, expenses of higher education and what the petition says is the ineffectiveness of online classes, etc.
Adam met with Norah Collins Pienta, dean of students, on July 17. Some of the student concerns mentioned by Adam at the meeting include financial hardship and unemployment during COVID-19, lab fees, and scholarships.
Adam said Pienta listened respectfully to the key points and students’ comments and promised to voice student concerns at board meetings.
“Although everything was heard, there didn’t seem to be much consideration to actually lower tuition” Adam said. “But she [Pienta] did say that she would bring my concerns and comments into meetings moving forward”.
Carroll said she has not received the petition but is aware of its existence. She says other institutions also hold similar ongoing discussions.
National & Regional Relevance
According to an article from Inside Higher Ed, Dominican students’ concerns echo those from other universities across the country.
Research from Art & Science Group, a higher education consulting firm, shows two-thirds of the college students expect to pay less for online classes.
On the other hand, according to another article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, most universities are maintaining its fall tuition with a minority of elite colleges offering a reduction of 10% to 15% in tuition.
Public universities face potential cut of state support while private university, like Dominican University, struggle for increasing tuition revenue in a market competing for students. Other Catholic universities in Illinois are adopting varying strategies. Similar to Dominican University, Loyola University also plans to adopt a hybrid model while maintain the same tuition with some adjustments in residence fee. By contrast, Depaul University, while also adopting a hybrid model, plans to freeze tuition, meaning no added annual increase, for the 2020-21 academic year.
