Peace University lowers its tuition

RALEIGH -- In a bold move to appeal to students and parents, William Peace University - formerly Peace College - has lowered tuition for next fall.

University trustees voted this month to decrease tuition by 7.73 percent to $23,700 for 2012-13. Room charges will remain flat at $6,186, and food charges will rise $120 to $2,814.

Students were notified by email this week.

"I am jumping up and down excited," said Caroline Mansfield, a first-year student from Cary. At first, she worried that her financial aid package would be affected, but she has since learned that she may not have to pay anything next year because of the decrease.

It's the latest big shift for the traditional women's college, which announced in July that it would admit men as full-time students next fall. That touched off Internet campaigns by angry alumnae and students, who staged protests at the gates of the downtown Raleigh campus just as signs ushered in the new name, William Peace University.

The university's president, Debra Townsley, said colleges have to become more cost effective to continue to keep the doors open to families hurt by the economy.

"We know that in private education, we have lost the middle-income student," she said.

Townsley set about cutting costs soon after she arrived at Peace last year, reorganizing academic programs. Significant numbers of faculty took buyouts or were let go.

"Higher education is going through large structural changes," Townsley said.

Some private colleges and public universities are suffering budget trouble because of a drop in students since the recession. Enrollment at lower-cost community colleges, meanwhile, has boomed.

Part of overall strategy

Townsley said the current enrollment at Peace is stable at about 725, counting residential students and those in the night program, which already is open to men. Federal data show Peace had about 760 students in 2010.

Trustees decided to take a look at tuition as part of the university's overall new strategy, Townsley said. Also this fall, William Peace announced a new partnership with Wake Technical Community College. Wake Tech students who earn an associate's degree of applied science will be guaranteed admission to William Peace's business-degree programs. They can finish their coursework on Wake Tech's campus - taught by William Peace faculty.

The William Peace decrease comes at a time when most universities are raising tuition. Public universities plan increases next year in the aftermath of state budget cuts. The College Board reported last month that tuition and fees climbed 8.3 percent this fall at the nation's four-year public universities and 4.5 percent at private universities.

But a few are going against the grain. The University of the South, in Sewanee, Tenn., lowered tuition by 10 percent this year. The University of Charleston in West Virginia will cut tuition by 22 percent next fall to deal with a drop in enrollment.

"This is a topic that wouldn't have been on the table four years ago," Townsley said. "Presidents are talking about this."

Male enrollment

It's too soon to know how many men will enroll next fall, but Townsley said 15 percent to 30 percent of applicants so far are male.

Mansfield, the first-year student, said she was initially disappointed when she learned that Peace would become coed. Now she understands, she said.

"I realize if we don't grow with the times and open up the door to new opportunities," she said, "we may not be here in 10 years."

Her parents were delighted with the tuition drop.

"That's a great Christmas present," she said.