The bill for full-time undergraduate students who use a credit card to pay for tuition this year was $24,264. Next year, students who are planning to pay with credit will receive bills of around $26,500, a 9 percent increase over this year’s cost.
The revamping of the tuition process is the result of a new partnership that the University of Denver has formed with Tuition Management System, an online outlet for bill paying, and includes an increase of 6.97 percent. The reason for the new contract with TMS, according to Joel Benson, director of Student Financial Services, is to set up a convenient array of new payment options.
Beginning in autumn 2004, an electronic bill will be sent to students’ DU e-mail accounts in addition to the standard paper bill that is sent to their homes. An e-account managed by TMS will allow students to view their accounts online and choose from different payment options.
The options include the choice to pay with a credit card or direct withdrawal. Students can also choose to set up monthly payment plans that exceed this year’s options in the number of months available.
This convenience, however, comes at a price to DU students. The merchant fee that accompanies credit card charges is currently paid by the university, but will no longer be covered under the new system. This charge, according to Benson, generally runs around 2 percent and decreases proportionately with the amount paid.
The university stands to save $1 million with the new system, money that would have otherwise been spent on merchant fees. The money will be spent on new academic initiatives proposed by an executive board. Program ideas submitted in the past include the Cherrington Program. The decision to put this money toward academic programs rather than a tuition break for students involved “a lot of thought and research” on the university’s part, said Benson.
“We had two alternatives,” said Benson. “Either things would happen that wouldn’t otherwise, or tuition would be raised [more significantly than it already is].”
The 6.97 percent increase means that students will be paying $721 per credit hour next year. According to Provost Robert Coombe, tuition increases are necessary to preserving the quality of DU as an institution.
“Tuition increases are needed to meet the increasing costs of academic quality: we must attract and retain the very best faculty members, develop the very best programs and maintain the very best facilities. All of these contribute to the uniquely effective learning environment at our university and to the rapidly increasing value of a DU degree,” read a section of a letter to parents from Coombe.
Other changes include a change in the charges to graduate students at Daniels. These students will be charged the university’s standard per credit tuition rate for each credit hour that they take. This change applies only to full-time graduate students. Business students enrolled in the 3/2 and 4/1 programs are still officially considered undergraduates.
According to John Thunen, DCB’s director of Budgeting and Research, the implementation of this payment program will be beneficial to students.
“With the redesign of our graduate degree programs, including the ability to waive out of specific foundation courses, the revisions to our tuition pricing better aligns our revenue and cost structure.”
