Radford University Board of Visitors sets tuition and fees for 2015-16 academic year
The Radford University (RU) Board of Visitors (BOV) approved tuition and fees for the 2015-16 academic year during its May 8 quarterly meeting on campus.
To sustain the university’s strategic objectives that enhance its quality, student-focused education, the BOV voted an increase of $449 in tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students for the 2015-16 academic year and a $47 increase in tuition and mandatory fees for out-of-state undergraduate students. In-state undergraduate tuition, mandatory fees, and room (standard double) and board (19 meal plan) charges would increase a total of $655, or 3.70 percent, and $263, or 0.86 percent, for out-of-state undergraduate students. Full-time graduate student tuition and mandatory fees will increase $500 for residents, or 4.92 percent, and $47, or 0.24 percent, for non-residents.
Among the factors considered by the board in its decision were the future economic outlook and a series of cost drivers: mandated salary, fringe benefit and health insurance rate changes, including increased contributions to the Virginia Retirement System; state appropriation and enrollment projections; contractual escalators; implementation of constituent relationship management systems for student recruitment/retention and advancement/alumni development; and costs associated with operation and maintenance of new facilities.
A comparison of total price (tuition, mandatory fees and room and board) showed Radford University to be 12.5 percent below the 2014-15 average for in-state undergraduate students among Virginia’s four-year public institutions of higher learning. Statewide, the average undergraduate pays a total price of $20,291 per year, while a Radford University student paid a total price of $17,786 for academic year 2014-15. For academic years 2010 to 2015, the annual total cost to an in-state undergraduate at Radford University was second lowest among Virginia’s 15 four-year institutions of higher learning.
Radford University continues to be recognized for the strength of its academic programs and its dedication to excellence. Radford University has been named one of the "Best Colleges and Universities in the Southeast" by the Princeton Review for seven of the past eight years and as one of the "Best Regional Universities" in the South by the U.S. News & World Report in 2014 and 2015. The university's commitment to providing its students an education that is within reach financially has also been acknowledged. Radford University was selected as a Top 75 U.S. public university in both the 2013 and 2014 editions of The Princeton Review’s Best Value College rankings. Radford University was also recognized as a "Best Bang for the Buck" institution by Washington Monthly magazine in 2013 and 2014.