Tuition, other fees at Tusculum College will not see increase in 2015

There will be no increase in tuition and room and board rates for Tusculum College students in the 2015-2016 year, as members of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees voted to freeze fees for the upcoming year at their fall meeting on the Greeneville campus, October 15-17.

The board met for three days, which included the kick-off celebration for the Tusculum First Capital Campaign held on Thursday night.

“We are pleased to announce that tuition, room and board at Tusculum College will remain at the same rate,” said President Nancy B. Moody. “It is our challenge and our duty to control costs for our students to the best of our ability.”

The tuition freeze will be applied to both the residential and the Graduate and Professional Studies programs.

In other business, the board approved revised floor plans and construction budget for the Dr. Ronald H. and Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math.

The Meen Center for Science and Math will be a four-story structure of nearly 100,000 square feet. Interiors include wings for biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, environmental science and nursing. There will also be lab space and research areas for both faculty and students.

The building features the environmental science wing with a loading dock, as well as larger general classroom spaces and classrooms equipped for distance learning programs. A large lecture hall will also be included on the ground floor. Additional space is earmarked for new yet-to-be-determined academic programs.

“We are ready to see this vision become a reality,” said Dr. Ken Bowman, chair of the Board of Trustees and a 1970 graduate of Tusculum College. “With the announcement Thursday night of the Tusculum First campaign and approval today on a construction budget for the science building, we have made giant strides in moving Tusculum College forward.”

Upon the recommendation of the faculty, the board approved changes in the number of credit hours required for graduation and credit hours earned per course for a large number of offerings in the academic program. Students will be required to earn 120 credits to graduate, down from 128. It is anticipated that this change will be implemented with the input of faculty, staff and administration by fall 2016.

Also approved was a fully-online degree program for the Bachelor of Science in management program.

In other action, the board gave approval to the 2014-2015 operating budget, approved December graduates and elected officers.

Officers elected included: Chair, Dr. Bowman; Vice Chair, Dr. Jerry Ward; Treasurer, Dwight Ferguson, and Secretary, Mark R. Williams.

Bowman, who currently resides in Apollo, Pa., has been a member of the board since 1998 and chair since 2006.

Dr. Ward resides in Greeneville and has served on the board since 2009.  He has served as assistant principal, principal and superintendent of schools in the Greeneville City School System. Dr. Ward served on the faculty of Tusculum College from 1994 until 2004, serving as distinguished service professor of education, department chair and division chair.

Ferguson joined the board in 2009. He is retired from Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., located in Erwin, where he served as president and chief executive officer from March 1992 until January 2009. Williams, of Greeneville, joined the board in 2001. He is a broker with Century 21 Legacy.

Also re-elected for an additional term as board members were Dr. Ward, Dr. Alan B. Corley, Dr. Judith Domer, Anna Gamble, Dr. Paul E. Stanton, Frank Horsman and Dr. Angelo Volpe.

The next meeting of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees will be in February 2015.