EKU regents approve $263.6million budget; tuition, fee increases help fund 24% growth

Hikes in tuition, fees will add $13 million

Associated Press
RICHMOND, Ky. -- Eastern Kentucky University regents approved a $263.6 million budget for 2005-06 that was bolstered by a nearly 23 percent increase in tuition and fees.
The budget approved Saturday is nearly 24 percent larger than this year's budget. The tuition and fees increase, approved by regents in April, will bring in more than $13 million.
The university is getting about $6 million more from the state in the next budget and $30 million more in grants and contracts funded by outside sources.
EKU employees will receive a 3.5 percent raise, and the university will devote more money to scholarships, its contingency fund, deferred maintenance projects and pay equity.
The board also made a change in the way President Joanne Glasser is compensated.
According to a university statement, the regents restructured Glasser's compensation to make the salary supplement that had been contributed by the EKU Foundation part of her university-paid base salary.
Orson Oliver told fellow regents that the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges recommends that a president's salary come from the university's budget, not a foundation.
The regents did not give Glasser a raise, but she will get the same 3.5 percent increase as other EKU employees. Her new salary is $234,470.
Glasser will be evaluated between now and fall, Oliver said.