MUNCIE, Ind.- Faced with rising costs for maintenance and employee health care along with inflationary bumps in the price of supplies and food, Ball State University’s Board of Trustees has approved an increase in room and board rates for the 2003-04 academic year.

The basic room and board rate will be $5,880 per year, up $33 per month from last year. The university will continue to offer the Premium Plan, which allows students to lock in the same rate for two years. Because they are already enrolled in this plan, a third of the students currently living in the halls will have no increase for next year.

“Our room and board rates compare quite favorably with other universities, and our residence halls remain a good value for students and their parents,” said Douglas McConkey, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management. “The increase is necessary to ensure the halls remain an attractive living and learning environment for our students.”

All of the university’s residence halls are more than 30 years old, and the university is engaged in continuous maintenance to keep them in good condition. In the past year, work to repair elevators, replace old plumbing and patch cracks on the exteriors of several buildings has been necessary and costly, said Thomas Kinghorn, vice president for business affairs.

Each year, the university conducts a detailed analysis of the cost to operate and maintain the residence halls. The university assesses which costs can be eliminated or reduced, which costs are rising and what the staffing needs for the halls are, Kinghorn said.

“We know these are difficult economic times, and the university is increasing rates as little as we can to be sensitive to our students and their families,” Kinghorn said. “Based upon our cost analysis, we have set room and board rates at a level that reflects our concern for students’ finances, while still allowing us to maintain the quality of operations they expect.”

The state does not appropriate funds for residence halls. They are built and maintained by the university out of funds generated from room and board fees.

(Note to Editors: For more information, contact Glenn Augustine, associate director of university communications, at (765) 285-1560 or ggaugustine@bsu.edu.)