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Bailey Thompson<\/strong> | News Editor<\/span><\/p>\n Looking forward to the future of Western, there are some financial changes that will be unavoidable; however, there is a team who is actively dedicated to keeping Western affordable for upcoming generations of Wolves. <\/span><\/p>\n For the 2019-2020 academic year in particular, there are a number of significant changes to the Business Office and to tuition rates that will heavily impact the financial opportunities of Western students. Setting the tone, while many of Oregon\u2019s public universities have either reported higher numbers or have not shared their tuition rates for next year yet, Western has committed to an increase of only 2.33% for undergraduate residents, which was decided by the Tuition and Fees Advisory Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n Evelyn Guzman, Erik Morgan and Ailyn Angel \u2014 student leaders and representatives on TFAC \u2014 shared what it was like for them to come to this decision. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe administration is really great for doing this even before the House Bill (3381) was passed \u2014 they\u2019ve listened to student voices, whereas a lot of other universities haven\u2019t,\u201d said Angel, a senior interdisciplinary studies major on the committee. \u201cYou never feel like you\u2019re asking a dumb question, and they really allow us to be a part of the decision-making process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to this small tuition increase, Western has also shown its commitment to affordability through other things like keeping the cost for room and board flat and keeping the incidental fee increase under 5%.<\/span><\/p>\n Another way that Western is making financial changes for the benefit of students relates to the Tuition Promise plan.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen WOU Promise was initially created, it was an environment when double-digit tuition increases were very common\u2026 But since that time, the environment has changed and there is now a very low tuition increase, so it turns out that what they set out in their plan is more expensive than if they were without the plan,\u201d said Dr. Karaman, Vice President for Finance and Administration. \u201cDr. Fuller always felt that it\u2019s the right thing to do to give the lowest of the available rates. So, this year we just said, \u2018let\u2019s go ahead and do it.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Karaman credits Dona Vasas and Camarie Campfield, the Bursar and Budget Manager, as being instrumental to bringing these changes about as well.<\/span><\/p>\n A final couple of updates from the Business Office that will impact Western students beginning next academic year are that seniors will no longer have to pay a $50 fee to apply to graduate, and students will also have 30 days beyond when the term starts to pay their bill. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cStudents are here for academics. Yes, they need to pay their bill, but let\u2019s make sure that their bill isn\u2019t impacting their academic achievement,\u201d said Vasas.<\/span><\/p>\n Although there are a number of things to keep track of, the staff at the Business and Financial Aid Offices is dedicated to serving any students who have questions about how these changes could be impacting them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe overall goal is that we want Western to be the most affordable public university in the state of Oregon, and we also want to make sure that students don\u2019t go into debt,\u201d concluded Dr. Karaman.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n