Trustees approve tuition hike, higher cost for room and board

 The Norwich University Board of Trustees has voted to increase the costs of room and board for students residing on campus for the 2009-10 school year, according to a Norwich University official. 

 The increase for students is nothing new, as room and board costs typically increase each year to meet the rising costs the university faces such as Sodexo-campus food, building maintenance and salaries, according to Norwich University CFO Robert Rebmann.

Over the years the Board of Trustees has voted to increase room and board costs. "I've seen it increase as low as 0 percent and as high as 8 percent in the past 10 years," Rebmann said.

This increase was decided by the Board of Trustees on Oct. 18, 2008. "The university usually recommends a budget to the president, the president recommends a budget to the Board of Trustees, and the trustees are the ones who vote on what the size of the increase will be and whether or not there will be one," Rebmann said.

While dorm costs continue to increase for Norwich students, the housing policy has also changed effective this school year. The goal of the policy change is to make Norwich a more residential campus, according to Brig. Gen. Michael Kelley, vice president for student affairs and commandant of cadets.

"We've had a lot of students wanting to come back to campus from being off campus, especially civilian, because of the new dormitory," Rebmann said. "We've brought students who were living out in the community back in, but many of them have elected on their own to come back."

According to Rebmann, even though dorm costs are increasing, students are not able to replicate a living style that is comparable with what Norwich provides in South Hall.

"Since we have the space, we want students to use it and make it a more residential campus," Rebmann said.

 Full-time civilian students are now required to live on campus their first three years and are encouraged to reside on campus their fourth and any subsequent years subject to the availability of housing and the needs of the university.

"It's not as easy for students to move off campus as it has been in the past," Rebmann said.

For the Corps of Cadets, their requirements concluded after their eighth semester with Norwich, before which they were required to live on campus.

"This year, we've kind of changed that and said corps students should live on campus their fifth or sixth year unless they get permission to move off campus," Kelley said. The goal is to encourage both corps and civilian students to live on campus.

"The only piece that's changed is the degree of our desire to have the fifth and sixth years remain on campus," Kelley said, regarding the Corps of Cadets.

 "Our long-term strategic direction in the institution is to become a more residentially based campus," Kelley said, "And that strategic direction is in something called NU 2019, which is the university's strategic plan."

The university is already residentially friendly for the Corps of Cadets, and the focus is to make that possible for civilian students as well, according to Kelley.

"We believe that a lot of informal learning occurs when a student is a member of a group on campus," Kelley said.

While students residing off campus are still getting a great education, many life experiences are missing that can only be gained on campus in a community where a student can live and work with others.