Ball State's Board of Trustees increased room and board fees by 5.5 percent for the 2005-06 academic year at Friday's meeting.
The increase from $6,228 to $6,570 for a standard double-occupancy room will help cover additional operating expenses for the residence halls, Alan Hargrave, director of housing and residence life, said.
Dining services expects the overall operating costs to increase by 25 percent, Ann Talley, director of residence halls dining services, said. The large increase is because of the rising cost of petroleum, which is found in the dining services take-out containers, and the rising cost of gasoline because all the products arrive to the university by truck.
The new rates are similar to other schools in the Mid-American Conference, Hargrave said.
"We fit pretty much in the middle compared to other universities," he said. Ball State's 2005-06 rates are less than or equal to eight of the 14 universities in the MAC and Indiana, according to a press release.
The board also approved a modification to the university's housing requirements. The current regulations require all freshmen and transfer students with 24 credit hours or less to live in the residence halls unless they live with their parents, are married or are more than 21 years old, Hargrave said.
The amended policy requires students with less than 24 credit hours, who live with their parents, to live no more than 60 miles from the university, Hargrave said. However, freshmen are still required to live in the residence halls.
"The policy was just modified," he said. "All it does now is create a commuting distance." The modification is needed because some students have a three- to four-hour commute to the university each way, he said.
Hargrave said the university will make exceptions to the new commuter policy on a case-by-case basis.
In the president's report, President Jo Ann Gora announced that the university received 22 donations at $10,000 each for the Inaugural Scholarship Fund.
In January, Gora decided to forego her presidential inauguration to create 15 scholarships for incoming freshmen. Originally, Gora needed 15 medallion benefactors, people who donate $10,000 each, combined with the $150,000 from her inaugural fund, to support the four-year scholarships.
However, because the scholarship fund has 22 donors, the university plans to increase the number of freshman recipients, Heather Shupp, executive director of university communications, said. The fund has a total of $520,000, enough to support 18.5 scholarships.
If Ball State receives additional donations for the Inaugural Scholarship Fund, the university will award more scholarships, Shupp said.
The Board of Trustees will have their next meeting at 2 p.m. April 22 in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Founders Room.
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