JOHNSON CITY (April 22, 2022) – Undergraduate and graduate students attending East Tennessee State University this fall will not see an increase in tuition.
During its quarterly meeting today, the ETSU Board of Trustees voted not to increase
tuition and fees for the 2022-23 academic year. This decision applies to all in-state
and out-of-state undergraduate students and graduate students, with the exception
of those attending Gatton College of Pharmacy and Quillen College of Medicine. The
Board also approved the 2022-23 operating budget, which goes into effect July 1.
Earlier today during the Academic, Research and Student Success Committee meeting,
members heard a project status report from the ETSU Ballad Health Strong BRAIN Institute. Later, during the full Board meeting, another update was made by the Center for Rural Health Research. Both centers were made possible through major gifts from Ballad Health.
The Board also approved a final report from the Committee for 125 Chapter II. Launched in March 2021, the Committee for 125 was charged with creating a strategic
vision for ETSU to pursue in advance of its 125th anniversary in 2036. In addition
to the core committee, six task forces were formed in the areas of academics, equity
and inclusion, ETSU Health, student success and experience, research and scholarship,
and fiscal sustainability.
Prior to the Board’s adoption of the final report, a number of town halls, listening
sessions, focus groups and other meetings were held with various constituency groups
and campus and community members to gather feedback and ideas. This new initiative
is a “part two” of the first Committee for 125 strategic visioning process that was
launched in 2012 upon President Brian Noland’s arrival at ETSU. Many of the recommendations
from that first group have already been implemented.
“There has been a tremendous shift in the higher education landscape since that first
report was completed,” Noland said. “For example, there was a major governance change
following the FOCUS Act, which called for the creation of a local governing Board
for ETSU.
“In addition, new programs such as Tennessee Promise have also had a direct impact
on enrollment, and new working partnerships have since been presented through the
creation of Ballad Health. All of these and other events occurred prior to the pandemic,
which also had a dramatic effect on this campus,” he added. “Collectively, these transformative
changes provided the impetus for us to examine what new opportunities might be on
the horizon for ETSU in the next decade.”
Noland said that with today’s approval from the Board, ETSU will move toward implementation
of multiple initiatives and activities outlined by the Committee for 125 Chapter II.
These include establishing a comprehensive student support center that offers a full
spectrum of services for students, particularly first-generation students, from point
of application through career placement; creating a Center for Community Engagement
that elevates the number of experiential learning opportunities for students; offering
additional pathways for veterans, military-affiliated families, ROTC cadets and active
duty servicemen; and expanding the Access ETSU program for neuro- and physically diverse
students. Another goal for ETSU is to have 90% of its students participating in internships
or real-world experiences within their majors.
In other actions, the Board approved recommendations for 65 ETSU faculty members to receive tenure and/or promotion.